North Korea opened its special tourist city of Rason, on its northern coast near the borders with both China and Russia, to foreign tour groups in mid-February.

But two travel agencies said arrivals had been suspended.

“We have been advised by our partners in the DPRK that tours to Rason are currently paused. We are in the process of clarifying how this will impact your upcoming trips,” said China-based travel agency Young Pioneer Tours in a notice.

It advised those planning tours in April and May not to book flights until more information became available.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or DPRK, is North Korea’s official name.

Separately, Koryo Tours, a China-based agency specializing in North Korean tours, said on its website that it had been informed “that our tours to Rason are temporarily closed.”

It described the situation as “unprecedented,” adding it would provide updates as soon as more information becomes available.

Neither company explained offered a reason for the suspension.

Before last month, only Russians had been allowed into North Korea for limited group tours since September 2023.

Foreign tourism is an important source of foreign currency for North Korea, which is under heavy international sanctions due to its nuclear and missile programs.

The recent reopening of Rason sparked speculation that North Korea might open other areas to foreign tourism, but the suspension of arrivals at Rason has led to speculation about the cause.

Some South Korean media outlets speculated that the decision was driven by concerns over the uncontrolled spread of information.

Over the past few weeks, as Western visitors, including social media influencers, were allowed into North Korea, numerous videos and interviews have surfaced online, as visitors share their at times bizarre experiences.

Debit card, pharmacy and masks

Pierre-Émile Biot, a French travel blogger who was among the first group of Western tourists to visit, described in an interview with Radio Free Asia a limited and inconsistent payment system. Upon arrival, tourists were issued debit cards but few businesses accepted them, he said. Instead, most shops preferred cash transactions, particularly in yuan.

Biot said he bought a debit card with a small amount of renminbi but found little opportunity to use it. While taxis supposedly accepted card payments, he never had a chance to test it, as his group traveled together throughout the visit.

Ben Weston, a tour leader from Britain, compared visiting North Korea to the structured experience of a school trip, where movement was closely monitored. Tourists were not even allowed to leave their hotels without a guide, he said during media interviews.

Another visitor, who identified himself as just Mike, said he had to inform a guide even when he needed to use the toilet, which he said he’s never encountered before.

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German travel influencer Luca Pferdmenges told of his interactions with ordinary North Koreans, including on a visit to a pharmacy, where the staff were astonished by the appearance foreign tourists.

Pferdmenges also said during media interviews how struck he was by North Korea’s strict COVID-19 precautions.

Nearly 80% of people he saw wore masks, he said, and every bag entering the country had to pass through a disinfecting machine.

Some English-speaking North Koreans appeared to be aware of international events, including the war between Ukraine and Russia, and the involvement of North Korean troops, and recent trade disputes involving the U.S. and other countries.

According to tourists, this awareness likely stemmed from interactions with Chinese business people, who may have served as an informal source of outside information in the otherwise tightly controlled country.

Edited by Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.

UMPIEM MAI REFUGEE CAMP, Thailand -- Saw Ba had been living in a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border for 16 years when he got the news last month that he’d been waiting years for: He and his family would be boarding a plane to resettle in America.

It had been a long wait. Saw Ba, in his 40s and whose name has been changed in this story for security reasons, had applied for resettlement soon after getting to the camp in 2008.

With much anticipation, staffers from the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, brought his family and 22 other people from Umpiem Mai Refugee Camp to a hotel in the Thai border town of Mae Sot in mid-January.

There they were to wait to catch a flight to Bangkok and on to the United States.

Freedom and a new life awaited.

But three days later, the IOM staffers delivered bad news: All 26 people would have to return to the refugee camp because the incoming Trump administration was about to order a halt to the processing and travel of all refugees into the United States.

(Shakeel/AP)

A few days later, after his Jan. 20 inauguration, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending refugee resettlement as part of a broader effort to “immediately end the migrant invasion of America.”

The executive order said the United States “lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”

Back in his family’s barren, ramshackle hut in the camp, Saw Ba was crestfallen.

“We have lost our hope now,” he said.

Left in Limbo

Saw Ba’s family is among hundreds or perhaps thousands of refugees globally who were held back on the cusp of entering the United States.

According to the Associated Press, a little more than 10,000 refugees worldwide had already been vetted and had scheduled travel to the United States ahead of the Jan. 20 deadline. It was not clear how many actually entered the United States before that date.

At Umpiem Mai camp, around 400 refugees had been waiting for resettlement in the United States.

Now they will have to wait longer.

(Shakeel/AP)

Saw Ba and his family had been so sure they would be resettled that they had given all of their belongings — including their clothes — to neighbors and friends, while their children had dropped out of school and returned their books.

“When we arrived back here [at Umpiem], we had many difficulties,” he told RFA Burmese, particularly with their children’s education.

“Our children have been out of school for a month, and now they’re back, and their final exams are coming up,” he said. “Our children won’t have books anymore when they return to school. I don’t know whether they’ll pass or fail this year’s exams.”

Missionary work

Saw Ba fled to the refugee camp because he was targeted for his Christian missionary work.

Originally from Pathein township, in western Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady region, he was approached by an official with the country’s military junta in 2009 and told to stop his activities.

When he informed the official that he was not involved in politics and refused to comply, police were sent to arrest him.

He fled to Thailand, where he ended up in the Umpiem Mai camp. There he met his wife and had a son and daughter, now in seventh and second grade, respectively.

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Another woman in the camp, Thin Min Soe, said her husband and their two children had undergone a battery of medical tests and had received an acceptance letter for resettlement, allowing them to join a waitlist to travel.

She had fled her home in the Bago region in central Myanmar for taking part in the country’s 2007 Saffron Revolution, when the military violently suppressed widespread anti-government protests led by Buddhist monks.

Thin Min Soe and other refugees at the camp told RFA they are afraid of returning to Myanmar due to the threat of persecution. The country has been pitched into civil war after the military toppled an elected government in 2021. Many said they no longer have homes or villages to return to, even if they did want to go back.

With the U.S. refugee program suspended, “we are now seriously concerned about our livelihood because we have to support our two children’s education and livelihoods,” she said.

When RFA contacted the camp manager and the refugee affairs office, they responded by saying they were not allowed to comment on the matter.

US has resettled 3 million refugees

Since 1980, more than 3 million refugees -- people fearing persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, politics or membership in a social group -- have been resettled in the United States.

During the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the United States resettled 100,034 refugees, the highest number in 30 years. The most came from the Republic of the Congo, followed by Afghanistan, Venezuela and Syria. Myanmar was fifth, accounting for 7.3%, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.

Over the past 30 years, the United States accepted the highest number of refugees from Myanmar -- about 76,000 -- followed by Canada and Australia, according to the U.S. Embassy in Thailand.

Hundreds of Myanmar refugees from Thailand were brought to the U.S. in November and December, before the end of former President Joe Biden’s term.

(RFA)

RFA requests for comment on the situation sent to the IOM, the U.S. Embassy in Thailand and The Border Consortium — the main provider of food, shelter and other forms of support to the approximately 120,000 refugees from Myanmar living in nine camps in western Thailand — were not immediately returned.

But an aid worker from the region told RFA that the refugees who were sent back to Umpiem Mai were sure to face challenges reintegrating in the camp.

“When they return, they will have difficulty getting food and finding accommodations,” said the aid worker, who also declined to be named. “They have already given their belongings to relatives, and some have been sold.”

Thai medical services

Thai officials, meanwhile, are working to provide medical care at camps for Myanmar refugees where health services have been affected by a recent suspension of U.S. foreign aid, also activated by Trump under an executive order.

The suspension prompted a Feb. 3 meeting of officials from the nine camps for Myanmar refugees along the border and Thai authorities and hospital officials.

They agreed that the camps will continue to use clinics and equipment provided by the U.S.-based humanitarian aid provider International Rescue Committee, or IRC, to treat camp residents, according to Saw Pwe Say, the secretary of the ethnic Karen Refugee Committee.

“I felt relieved ... they said the IRC has approved the camps to continue using their clinics and equipment for medical treatment,” he said.

(RFA)

Thai health workers will provide healthcare during the day from Monday to Friday, while refugee camp health professionals will be on duty at night and on weekends.

The U.S. freeze on foreign aid has also impacted the work of other humanitarian groups at the Thai-Myanmar border, including the Mae Tao Clinic, which provides free medical care to those in need, as well as health education and social services, officials told RFA.

Translated by Aung Naing and Kalyar Lwin. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.

Hundreds of Vietnamese in Thailand who are hoping to be resettled as refugees in the U.S. have been left in limbo by President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend refugee admissions and resettlement programs.

The executive order signed on Jan. 20 suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP, and decisions on applications for refugee status, while allowing the secretaries of state and homeland security to admit refugees on a case by case basis. The order called for the resettlement of refugees to be halted indefinitely. However, it will be reviewed in 90 days to see whether the program benefits Americans.

The suspension also affects programs such as the Welcome Corps, established by the State Department in 2023 to enable U.S. citizens or permanent residents to sponsor refugees and help them resettle in the U.S.

Welcome Corps said in a statement on its website the suspension of USRAP “includes intake of new applications for the Welcome Corps, as well as processing of all active or previously submitted applications.”

Musician Nam Loc Nguyen fled Vietnam in 1975 and settled in Los Angeles. He was named “Citizenship Ambassador” by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, in 2022. He said Trump’s executive order could affect about 1,500 Vietnamese refugees in Thailand who are hoping to be resettled in a third country.

“This is the most direct and significant impact on refugees in general, and on Vietnamese refugees in Thailand in particular.”

Vietnamese refugees in Thailand include political activists, human rights advocates and members of ethnic minorities who have suffered discrimination for their religious beliefs, had land seized and documents denied by authorities.

Since Thailand has not joined the U.N. Convention on Refugees, Vietnamese even when recognized as refugees by UNHCR are not granted that status and cannot work.

Hopes of US resettlement fade

Trump’s executive order also affects people who have already been approved for resettlement. Even those who have plane tickets and were about to leave Thailand for the U.S. face delays, at least temporarily.

Nguyen Thanh Khai, 47, and his family fled to Thailand in 2013 and are still waiting for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, to grant them official refugee status.

Without legal documents, Khai and his family have been forced to take cash-in-hand jobs such as preparing vegetables at markets and selling sugarcane juice.

Khai was held for 40 days in 2018 at Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Center for working without a permit.

“My life here is illegal. They are always trying to deport me,” he said.

In early 2024, Khai got news that a group in the U.S. had sponsored his family under the Welcome Corps program. For the first time in 12 years, he said he could hope for a stable future for him and his children.

“I was devastated when I heard that the Welcome Corps program had been suspended. I had been hoping and waiting. Now, I feel so sad for my kids’ future,” he told Radio Free Asia.

Khai’s oldest daughter, Thanh Ngan, 18, is in her penultimate year at high school. She said that her studies had suffered because she lacks legal documents. Unlike her friends, she was not allowed to participate in exchange programs, including a school camping trip to China.

Ngan hopes to become a dentist and said she was overjoyed when she heard she was moving to America.

“I was ecstatic to hear that my family had been sponsored as I really want to go to the U.S. to study,” she said. “When I heard that the Welcome Corps program had been suspended, I felt really sad and anxious. I want to study until finishing college but … with only U.N.-issued documents, I can’t go to university.”

Lobby Congress

Nam Loc said he thinks it’s important to lobby Republican and Democrat politicians in the U.S. to inform them of the dangers facing Vietnamese refugees. This could encourage U.S. authorities to review and change the executive order, he said.

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U.S. immigration lawyer Hoang Duyen said the criteria for asylum in the U.S. are clearly stipulated in U.S. immigration law. Therefore, immigration-related and refugee protection organizations could take legal proceedings to challenge Trump’s executive order. However, one of those groups said it wasn’t clear how the situation in the U.S. would progress.

On Feb. 4, the International Rescue Committee, which helps people resettle as refugees in the U.S., emailed Nam Loc saying:

“From today, all programs are temporarily suspended. All refugee appointments at the resettlement support center/s are canceled until further notice … Even officers working for charity organizations in Bangkok don’t know how things will be. Therefore, it’s hard for us to anticipate.”.

Waiting patiently in Thailand

Tran Anh Qua was a political dissident in Vietnam and a contributor to Vietnam Thoi Bao, or Vietnam Times, an independent newspaper banned by the government. In early 2023, police detained and questioned him for two days about his activism. In August 2023, he fled to Thailand.

Qua said his application was processed quickly and the USCIS gave him permission to resettle in the U.S. last October.

“I was overjoyed because it felt like a rebirth opportunity,” he said. “Moving from a country where freedom is scarce – where many see it as a big prison – to the freest country in the world.”

The USCIS told him he needed at least four months to complete medical exams and vaccinations before entering the U.S. His first vaccination appointment was scheduled for mid-November but was postponed because it coincided with the U.S. presidential election. He didn’t receive his first shot until Jan. 21.

“My next vaccination is on February 18, but I’m not sure if it will happen. I’m afraid they might send me home without giving me the shot,” he said.

However, he said he still believed he would eventually be able to settle in the U.S.

“I believe in the U.S. Constitution. I believe that the political and legal system will function as it should.”

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Vietnamese.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture accused the outlet of “non-compliance” with regulations and collaboration with an unnamed foreign-based television network. The ministry said it was investigating the broadcaster’s activities but did not specify a date to end the suspension.

The outlet refuted the accusations in a statement, according to a report by London-based broadcaster Afghanistan International.

“The Taliban must immediately rescind its suspension of Radio Begum’s operations and allow the station to resume its reporting without interference,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “The forced closure of Radio Begum is part of a broader, systematic assault on women’s rights in Afghanistan, particularly targeting women-led and women-owned media organizations. This practice must end, and the international community must hold the Taliban accountable for these actions.”  

Founded in 2021, just months before the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, Radio Begum is a women-led media broadcaster in Kabul that also posts on social media, particularly Facebook. In November 2023, its sister channel, Begum TV, was launched in Paris with a grant from the Malala Fund, which advocates for girls’ education globally.

CPJ’s messages to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid requesting comment did not receive a response.

In March 2023, the Taliban shut down women-run broadcaster Radio Sada e Banowan, citing the airing of music during the holy month of Ramadan. The station was permitted to resume operations on April 7 and continues to report on news about women in the city of Faizabad in northeastern Badakhshan Province.  

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Vessels from the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) were going to Sandy Cay for a marine scientific survey and sand sampling on Friday, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said in a statement on Saturday.

“During the mission, the BFAR vessels encountered aggressive maneuvers from three Chinese Coast Guard vessels 4106, 5103 and 4202,” PCG said, calling the incident a “blatant disregard” of the 1972 Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs).

Sandy Cay is a group of cays – or low reefs – two nautical miles (3.7 km) from Philippines-occupied Thitu island, known as Pag-asa island in the Philippines.

Four smaller boats deployed by the China Coast Guard (CCG) also harassed the Philippine bureau’s two inflatable boats, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

“Compounding the situation, a People’s Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) helicopter, identified by tail number 24, hovered at an unsafe altitude above the BFAR RHIBs, creating hazardous conditions due to the propeller wash,” the Philippine Coast Guard said.

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In a statement, the China Coast Guard said it expelled the Philippine vessels for unlawfully intruding into its waters.

China has “indisputable sovereignty” over the disputed waters and that it will continue to protect its maritime rights and interests, China Coast Guard spokesperson Liu Dejun said on Saturday.

Philippine authorities suspended the operation following the incident, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

The Philippine foreign affairs department is expected to file another diplomatic protest against China over the encounter, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Eduardo De Vega said.

Edited by BenarNews Staff.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated news organization.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by BenarNews staff.

“Benin’s media regulator must allow these six news outlets to resume publishing and let journalist Romuald Alingo continue with his work,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa Representative. “Authorities should focus on preserving and expanding freedom of information in Benin and not impose undue restrictions that can have a troubling effect on the entire profession.”

In its order suspending the four “unauthorized websites” Reporter Médias Monde, Les Pharaons, Crystal News, and the Mme Actu TikTok account, the regulatory High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC) said that the outlets had been “the subject of numerous complaints” and their content contained “unfounded allegations.” They had also broadcast content without prior authorization from the HAAC in violation of Article 252 of the Information and Communication Code, it said.

In another suspension order, the HAAC cited complaints that Audace Info regularly published “false allegations which discredit the persons concerned and harm their honor and reputation,” and said that Arlingo had failed to respond to the regulator’s summons.

Lastly, Le Patriote was suspended over its publication in December of an exiled politician’s  criticism of Beninese President Patrice Talon and a January editorial critical of the army for failing to prevent a border attack in which 28 soldiers died. The HAAC also said the outlet “not only became a bi-weekly without the required formalities, but also appears online,” citing a regulation approving Le Patriote as a weekly paper.

HAAC responded to CPJ’s email requesting comment and copies of the complaints and said the letter would be forwarded “to whom it may concern.” The regulator added, “HAAC’s mission is to protect and promote freedom of expression in accordance with the law.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

The four fishermen were detained on Nov. 30 along with 27 crewmen from Myanmar, after a Myanmar navy boat had opened fire on several Thai boats near the neighbors’ common border in the Andaman Sea. One fisherman drowned after he jumped off a Thai boat during the shooting and two were injured.

Thai navy officials cited their Myanmar counterparts as saying the Thai boats had intruded up to 5.7 miles (9 kilometers) into Myanmar waters.

Thailand and Myanmar have several areas of dispute on their long land border as well as on their maritime border off the southern tip of Myanmar and southwest Thailand, and disagreements occasionally flare up.

Thai foreign ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said on Dec. 5 that the four Thais had been released and were being processed at the immigration checkpoint in the Myanmar town of Kawthoung. But they never showed up in the Thai town of Ranong on the other side of a border inlet.

Thailand’s Khaosod newspaper reported on Monday that a Kawthoung court had sentenced the boat’s captain to five years in prison for illegal fishing in Myanmar waters and another year for illegal entry. It did not provide a source for its report.

The three other Thais were each sentenced to three years in prison for illegal fishing in Myanmar waters and an additional one year for illegal entry, the newspaper reported.

The court had shown mercy after the boat’s captain confessed to fishing for mackerel in Myanmar waters and their prison sentences were suspended “to maintain good international relations,” the newspaper reported

“All four Thai crew members will be released back to Thailand during the upcoming New Year 2025 festive holiday,” the newspaper said.

Radio Free Asia was unable to contact the court in Kawthoung for comment. Spokesmen for Myanmar’s ruling military were also unavailable for comment.

The Thai foreign ministry spokesman declined to comment on the Khaosod report about the suspended sentences, merely saying in a release: “The actions taken by the Myanmar side are based on Myanmar law regarding foreign fishing vessels and Myanmar immigration law.”

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A pardon?

But Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said on Monday evening that the four Thais would be pardoned and released.

“It is typical in a justice system to hand down such rulings, to be followed by a pardon,” Paetongtarn told reporters.

“We have talked about and discussed this,” she said, referring to the Myanmar side, adding that the four could be freed after the New Year.

The 27 Myanmar crew members on the detained Thai boat, the Sor Charoenchai 8, have been sentenced to four years in prison with a fine of 200,000 kyat (US$95), said Ye Thwe, president of the Fishers Rights Network.

Ye Thwe said it was the responsibility of Thai authorities and a system known as Port-In Port-Out, or PIPO, to monitor fishing and ensure it is done legally. The fishermen themselves should not be blamed, he said.

Activist groups have long criticized PIPO authorities for what the groups see as the failure to crack down on debt bondage and other labor abuses on board vessels.

Ye Thwe said the Thai boat owner or Thai authorities should help the relatives of detained fishermen.

“Especially the families, they’re saying that it’s not fair,” he said. “Without the fishermen … they have no income. That’s why the boat owner or the Thai government should respond on this.”

It was not the first incident in the contested area in recent years.

In 2020, Myanmar detained a Thai fishing boat carrying 20 Thai and Chinese tourists, saying it had entered Myanmar waters illegally. Myanmar held the tourists for a month before their release following negotiations.

Editing by RFA Staff

Pimuk Rakkanam in Bangkok contributed to this story.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Kiana Duncan for RFA and Nontarat Phaicharoen for BenarNews.

“The Nigerien authorities should reverse their suspension of the BBC and their intentions to take legal action against RFI,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “The Nigerien government should recognize that press freedom is an essential ingredient for development and peace, and cease its efforts to control information related to the region’s security situation.”

On Thursday, December 12, 2024, Niger’s Minister of Communication Raliou Sidi Mohamed imposed the BBC suspension. BBC reported that its programs, which are broadcast across Niger via local radio partners, had been suspended, but its “website is not blocked and the radio can still be accessed on shortwave.”

The suspension followed Nigerien authorities’ refutation of BBC’s coverage of jihadist attacks on Tuesday, December 10, which reportedly killed dozens of soldiers and civilians. BBC said that Niger’s military government, which took power in a July 2023 coup, called accounts of the attacks “baseless assertions” and a “campaign of intoxication orchestrated by adversaries of the Nigerien people aimed at undermining the morale of our troops and sowing division.”

BBC Afrique denied the accusations and said, “We stand by our journalism.”

Separately, also on December 12, Niger’s government announced its intention to file a complaint against RFI following its reporting on the same attacks. The announcement said that “a vast disinformation campaign was orchestrated by Radio France Internationale in a crude and shameful montage with genocidal overtones” but did not specify when or where the complaint would be filed.

RFI Afrique described the complaint as “extravagant and defamatory, and not based on any evidence.”

In 2023, Nigerien authorities suspended RFI and France 24, which are both subsidiaries of the French government-owned France Médias Monde, and earlier this year tightened legal control over the press by reinstating prison sentences for defamation and insult. 

CPJ’s phone calls to Minister of Communication Mohamed went unanswered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“Haitian authorities should reverse their suspension of the Radio Mega show ‘Boukante Lapawòl’ (Exchange of Words) and refrain from further interfering with the free flow of information,” said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen in Washington, D.C. “Haitian authorities would do well to focus on restoring order in the country, rather than accusing journalists of spreading propaganda.” 

The suspension was imposed on November 22 after a wanted Haitian gang leader, Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Cherizier, called into the show the night before to denounce alleged public corruption, claiming that he was offered a large bribe by a member of the ruling Presidential Transition Council to negotiate peace with the gangs. It was the second time in several weeks that Cherizier had called into the show without prior arrangement, said Radio Mega’s owner, veteran journalist Alex Saint-Surin.

CONATEL cited a 1977 decree in issuing the suspension without giving Radio Mega the opportunity to explain the incident or defend itself legally.  

“Notorious leaders have benefited greatly from airtime, spreading messages of hatred and terror against society,” CONATEL said in a letter to the station.

CONATEL did not immediately reply to an inquiry from CPJ, but a government spokesman told CPJ in a WhatsApp message that Radio Mega had lent its airwaves to Cherizier’s “propaganda,” adding that Haiti was “weak state” struggling to defend itself from Viv Ansamn, a heavily armed gang coalition led by Cherizier.

Cherizier has called on the council to resign and launched a series of deadly attacks in recent days targeting the prime minister’s office and other government buildings. Armed members of Viv Ansamn control large parts of the capital using tactics such as rape, murder, child recruitment and kidnapping to terrorize the population over the last nine months, according to the United Nations.

The Haitian media support group, SOS Journalistes, rejected CONATEL’s accusations against Radio Mega, saying that “Boukante Lapawòl has never served as a propaganda platform for gangs.” 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“Togolese authorities must allow Tampa Express to resume publication without delay,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in Durban. “Media regulations should be used to encourage good practice, not to deploy disproportionate punishments or censorship.”

The regulatory High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC) said in its November 4 statement, reviewed by CPJ, that it had suspended the privately owned Tampa Express for the publication of false information “without evidence” and repeated violations of ethical conduct.

The HAAC said that Tampa Express’ October 30 report criticized the political influence of Sandra Ablamba Ahoéfavi Johnson, who is Minister, Secretary General of the Presidency and Togo’s Governor at the World Bank. The article also alleged that she blocked the appointment of three people to the HAAC.

Tampa Express publishing director Francisco Napo-Koura told CPJ that the regulator had taken issue with the headline, which described Johnson as the “rising star of the ‘whores’ of the republic.” Napo-Koura said the phrase was a reference to France’s Christine Deviers-Joncour, who had an affair with the country’s foreign minister and wrote a book called “Whore of the Republic.” Both women had significant influence over government policies, he said.

The HAAC said it was the fourth time since 2022 that it had summoned Tampa Express publishing director Francisco Napo-Koura for violating the “professional rules of journalism.”

In 2023, the regulator suspended Tampa Express for three months over a report about alleged corporate mismanagement, following a complaint from the firm’s former general manager.

Napo-Koura told CPJ that he is awaiting a trial date in a defamation case related to the same report, after the trial was postponed on October 9.

HAAC spokesman Patrick Adom referred CPJ to the regulator’s existing decision.

CPJ’s request for comment to the Presidency via its website did not immediately receive a reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“Reporting critically on the activities of Mali’s military and conflict in the country should not be grounds for censorship, which stifles access to crucial information of public interest to the Malian people and the world,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program. “Authorities should restore access to TV5Monde and LCI, as well as broadcasters Radio France Internationale and France 24, which have been suspended since 2022.”

Mali’s High Authority for Communication (HAC), the country’s media regulator, suspended TV5Monde on September 5 for three months in connection with its coverage of a military drone bombing in northern Mali, according to the broadcaster. Similarly, the HAC suspended LCI, which is owned by the TF1 Group, on August 23 for two months over “false accusations of abuses against the Malian armed forces and their Russian partners.”

The year after taking control of the country in 2021, Mali’s military government indefinitely suspended French broadcasters Radio France Internationale and France 24 for “false allegations” in connection with reporting on abuses by the country’s military.

HAC’s president, Gaoussou Coulibaly, declined CPJ’s request for comment and said TV5MONDE is free to write to the regulator to make its reaction known.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

We speak with journalist, author and academic Steven Thrasher, the chair of social justice reporting at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He was singled out by name during a congressional hearing about pro-Palestine protests on college campuses earlier this year, with one Republican lawmaker calling him a “goon” for protecting students in an encampment from violent arrest. Northwestern filed charges against Thrasher for obstructing police that were later dropped, but students returning to Northwestern for the fall term will not see him in their classrooms because he has been suspended as Northwestern says he is under investigation. In his first interview about the affair, Thrasher tells Democracy Now! that he stands by his actions and that he has “received no due process” from his employer. He says the university has previously celebrated him, including in “glowing” job reviews and by publicizing his work. “What they don’t like is that I am now applying the same social justice journalism principles that I’ve applied to race and that I’ve applied to LGBTQ people, to COVID and HIV, that I was now applying those to Palestine,” says Thrasher.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

“Taliban officials must immediately reverse their decision to suspend the broadcast licenses of 14 active media outlets in Nangarhar province that collectively reach millions of people,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ Asia program coordinator. “The Taliban continues to exert pressure on media outlets to control their programming and broadcasting operations in Afghanistan. They must cease these tactics and allow the independent media to operate freely.”

The order also stipulated that the outlets must renew their licenses and pay any outstanding fees or risk having all the outlet’s licenses revoked, according to CPJ’s review of the order, the exiled Afghanistan Journalists Center watchdog group, and a journalist who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity. 

ATRA is a regulatory body that operates as part of the Taliban’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Outlets with suspended radio and TV licenses: 

• Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV
• Sharq 
• Arzasht 

Radio networks affected: 

• The Nan
• Radio Safa
• Meena 
• Radio Dost
• Mazal
• Manar
• Muram
• Haqiqat 
• Hood 
• Spinghar
• Ulfat

CPJ’s text messages to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid for comment did not receive a reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

The decision would affect 134 items under the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, or ECFA, from June 15, the Customs Tariff Commission, which is under the State Council, said in a statement.

Base oils, lithium-ion batteries, racing bikes, television cameras, certain woven fabrics and various machine tools are among the 134 items.

The ECFA, which was signed in 2010, includes 806 items approved for tariff reductions and agreements to move forward on further trade liberalization.

“Taiwan authorities failed to take any actions to remove its trade restrictions [on mainland Chinese products],” said the commission. “Taiwan’s unilateral adoption of discriminatory restrictions and prohibitions on the export of mainland products violates the provisions in the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement.”

China said last year that its eight-month investigation had found that Taiwan was blocking 2,509 mainland Chinese mineral, agricultural and textile goods from reaching the island. The investigation covered some items in the trade deal.

Letter of protest

Also on Friday, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun daily reported that the Chinese Consul General in Osaka had sent a letter of protest to Japanese lawmakers who traveled to Taiwan to attend the inauguration of Taiwanese President William Lai Ching-te on May 20.

The Chinese Consul General in Osaka, Xue Jian, sent the letters to some members of the Japan-Taiwan Diet Members’ Consultative Council, a bipartisan group of pro-Taiwanese lawmakers, on May 24, protesting against their attendance at the inauguration.

More than 30 Japanese lawmakers attended Lai’s ceremony in Taipei.

In the letter, seen by Sankei, Xue called the inauguration “a very wrong political signal to support the ‘Taiwan independence’ divisive forces,” and criticized Lai as “an inflexible and stubborn molecule who speaks ‘Taiwan independence’ in a very vicious way.”

“The Taiwan issue is a red line that must not be crossed as it is at the core of China’s core interests,” Xue said in the letter. “The political foundation of Sino-Japanese relations and the basic trust between the two countries are at stake.”

“We strongly hope that you will safeguard the grand scheme of Sino-Japanese relations through your actual actions by not having any contact with Taiwan,” he added.

Yuichiro Wada, a lawmaker from the Nippon Ishin no Kai who received the letter, told Sankei that it was a “very intimidating threat and a way of thinking that ignores the will of the people of Taiwan.” 

“If China’s claims are true, tensions in the Taiwan Strait will escalate even further,” Wada said, adding that “Japanese lawmakers should work with Taiwan more firmly.”

China has made clear its opposition to new Taiwanese leader Lai.

Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office accused him of sending “dangerous signals” that hampered peace and stability.

China sees Lai as an advocate for Taiwan’s independence, and last week held two days of military drills in waters near the island. Lai has said he wants to maintain the status quo between the island and the mainland.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that should be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. Since separating from mainland China in 1949, Taiwan has been self-governing.

Edited by Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.

On April 17, the High Authority for Communication (HAC) suspended the private news website Inquisiteur in Guinea and banned Keita from practicing journalism for six months, according to news reports, and Keita, who is also the website’s administrator.

The suspension followed a March 27 complaint filed by Alphonse Charles Wright, the former Minister of Justice and Human Rights, over a March 20 Inquisiteur investigation into allegations of corruption in public contracts, according to the HAC decision, reviewed by CPJ.

Keita told CPJ that he had been summoned to appear in court in the capital, Conakry, on May 30 on defamation charges, following a complaint by Wright.

“Guinea’s communications regulator should reverse the suspension of Mamoudou Babila Keita and the Inquisiteur news website and ensure media outlets can work freely,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “The six-month suspension risks seriously undermining Inquisiteur’s financial viability and denies the Guinean public access to diverse sources of information.”

In its decision, the HAC said that Keita had “not been able to provide evidence of his accusations” and he could not “practice the profession of journalism” for the duration of his suspension.

Keita shared with CPJ a 11-page memo that he wrote to the HAC on April 16 in response to their request for evidence to support the corruption allegations in his article. In the memo, Keita invited HAC to verify the evidence detailed in his report with authorities to help prove his innocence.

Wright told CPJ that the article had damaged his career and hurt his family and he waited for a week before filing the complaint in the hope that Keita would call to ask him to comment on the story.

Keita told CPJ that the HAC’s suspension would inflict “a huge loss” on Inquisiteur, which was one of Guinea’s 10 most popular news websites and had just invested in new headquarters and equipment and planned to hire new staff. 

“All that will now be lost,” Keita told CPJ.

Separately, on March 25, the HAC suspended Habib Marouane Camara, a columnist with the privately-owned Djoma Media group, for three months over alleged “defamatory remarks” after the Minister of Transport and government spokesman Ousmane Gaoual Diallo filed a complaint, the columnist told CPJ.

On January 17, the HAC suspended the privately-owned news website Dépêche Guinée for nine months and banned its editor Abdoul Latif Diallo “from creating or lending his services to a news organization” for six months.

According to the law establishing the HAC “for the defense of citizens’ right to information,” the regulator can sanction, suspend, or ban media outlets and journalists that do not respect the provisions of the law on communication.

Since late 2023, several news websites, including Inquisiteur, became inaccessible for months and at least four radio and television outlets, as well as social media platforms have been blocked in Guinea. The restrictions began in May, coinciding with opposition-led protests against the military government which took power in 2021.

CPJ’s calls to the HAC President Boubacar Yacine Diallo requesting comment were not answered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Thursday, the Superior Council of Communication (CSC), Burkina Faso’s media regulator, suspended the British government-funded BBC Afrique and U.S. Congress-funded Voice of America from broadcasting for two weeks, according to a CSC statement and news reports. The CSC said the suspensions were “precautionary measures” in response to the outlets’ reporting on allegations of misconduct by the Burkinabe army, detailed in a report by the global Human Rights Watch (HRW) rights group.

The CSC also ordered internet service providers to block access to the BBC Africa and Voice of America’s websites, and asked Burkinabe media not to relay the content of the Human Rights Watch report under penalty of “sanctions provided for by the laws in force.”

“The Burkinabe authorities must immediately lift the suspension of BBC Africa and Voice of America and refrain from censoring local journalists and media outlets,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “The army’s conduct cannot be a taboo subject. Burkinabe citizens have the right to be informed on all matters of public interest in the military response to the security crisis in their country.”

According to the HRW report, the Burkinabe army had killed 223 civilians in the country’s north in retaliation for attacks by armed Islamist fighters. In its statement, the CSC said the Voice of America and BBC Africa broadcasts constituted “disinformation likely to discredit the Burkinabe army.” 

In an April 26 statement, Voice of America said that it “stands by its reporting” and “intends to continue to fully and fairly cover activities in the country.” A BBC spokesperson told CPJ that “the suspension reduces BBC’s ability to reach audiences with independent and accurate news” and it will continue to report on the region in the public interest and without fear or favor.

Burkina Faso is ruled by a military regime led by Ibrahim Traoré, who seized power during a September 2022 coup amid an insurgency by Islamist armed groups.

Previously, Burkinabe authorities suspended several international media outlets for reporting on military misconduct allegations and in November sought to conscript two journalists into the military.

Reached via a messaging application, Blahima Traoré, CSC’s general secretary referred CPJ to the CSC’s decision and did not elaborate further.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Tuesday, a court in Togo’s capital Lomé sentenced Dietrich, a freelance reporter, to a six-month suspended prison sentence for illegal entry and banned him from Togolese territory. He was then taken to the country’s Benin border and expelled, according to the journalist.

Following Dietrich’s sentence on Tuesday, Togo’s media regulator, the High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC), temporarily suspended the accreditation process for foreign journalists, citing “issues related to special envoy Thomas Dietrich” on April 13 and 14, and “serious shortcomings” in the coverage of Togolese political news by French broadcasters Radio France Internationale and France 24, according to a copy of the decision and news reports.

On April 14, Dietrich, on assignment with the privately owned Afrique XXI news site, announced in a video that he had arrived in Lomé on April 13 to report on political news in Togo. He had obtained a professional visa for the trip, which was revoked by Togolese authorities during his detention, according to CPJ’s review of his travel documents.

The following day, police officers with covered faces arrested Dietrich and seized his phone as he left the HAAC, according to the journalist. After searching his hotel room, police took Dietrich to an unnamed building where they forcibly removed his wedding ring, slapped, stripped and accused him of “speaking badly about the president,” said Dietrich, adding that his ring and phone were returned by police the following day. 

Last week, the publishing director of the weekly newspaper La Dépêche, Apollinaire Mewenemesse. was released under judicial supervision after two weeks in detention on various anti-state charges. Earlier in March, the HAAC also suspended La Dépêche for three months.

“Press freedom is paramount at this critical juncture in Togolese politics,” said CPJ Africa Program Head Angela Quintal. “Authorities must identify and hold accountable the police officers responsible for abusing Thomas Dietrich and permit both foreign and Togolese journalists to cover current political news.”

On March 25, the Togolese parliament passed a constitutional amendment to change the way the president is chosen, from direct election by the public to appointment by deputies of the National Assembly. Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé, who succeeded his father after his death in 2005, asked the assembly for a second review of the reform and postponed regional and legislative elections originally scheduled for April 20 to April 29.

Togolese authorities banned a series of protests planned by opposition political parties against the reform on April 12 and 13. Earlier on April 7, the Togolese government warned that authors of what it determines to be false news spread by “traditional and social media” about the electoral process and constitutional reform would be “exposed to the rigors of the law.”

Reached by email, Badjibassa Babaka, a spokesperson for the HAAC, forwarded a copy of the regulator’s decision and added that the reasons of HAAC’s position were mentioned in it.

Yaovi Okpaoul, director of Togo’s National Police, declined CPJ’s request for a response citing that “he knew nothing about what had happened.”

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Napo-Koura is due to appear in court on March 20 in the Togolese capital, Lomé, over a defamation complaint filed in March 2023 by Charles Kokouvi Gafan, former general manager of Togo Terminal, about a report published in the privately owned Tampa Express in January 2023 about alleged mismanagement at the company, according to the journalist, who spoke with CPJ, and a copy of a letter from his lawyer, Elom Kpade, and a copy of the complaint.

The complaint claimed Tampa Express published “false information” about Gafan that constituted defamation, and that the allegations were repeated by Napo-Koura on a broadcast by the privately owned Taxi FM and circulated on social media. The complaint also requested that the court find Tampa Express and Napo-Koura guilty of defamation under the penal code and order them to pay Gafan 30 million West African francs (about US$50,000), among other remedies.

Togo’s press code says that offenses involving journalists must be handled by the communications regulator, but in certain circumstances still allows for journalists to be prosecuted under the penal code. Article 156 of the press code says that journalists who “used social networks as a means of communication” to commit such offenses are instead “punished in accordance with the common law provisions.”

Napo-Koura could receive a prison sentence of up to six months and a fine of up to 2 million CFA francs (US$ 3,321) under Article 290 of the penal code.

Separately, on March 4, Togo’s media regulator, the High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication (HAAC) suspended the privately owned La Dépêche for three months over its February 28 report that questioned the 2023 conviction of Major General Abalo Kadangha for the murder of Lieutenant-Colonel Bitala Madjoulba in 2020, according to the newspaper’s editor Apollinaire Mewenemesse and a copy of the decision reviewed by CPJ.

“Togolese authorities should reverse their suspension of La Dépêche newspaper and cease harassing the Tampa Express newspaper and its publishing director Francisco Napo-Koura,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program. “The repeated suspension of news outlets in Togo and the threat of journalists being criminally prosecuted for their work has become far too commonplace in the country and violates citizen’s access to information.”

Gafan also complained to the HAAC last year about the same January 2023 Tampa Express article, which prompted the regulator to suspend publication of the newspaper for three months in February 2023, according to Napo-Koura, and a copy of the HAAC’s decision, reviewed by CPJ.

In the case of La Dépêche, the HAAC said the newspaper provided “no evidence to support its allegations and insinuations” about the murder trial and that its report contained incitement to tribal hatred and popular revolt and called for ethnic confrontation between military officers. These allegations were not substantiated by CPJ’s review of the report.

 The HAAC also alleged “recidivism” by La Dépêche, saying that it had previously summoned the newspaper in May 2023 and November 2020 over other reports.

Under Article 65 of Togo’s law regulating communications, the HAAC can suspend daily newspapers for up to 15 days and other publishers and broadcasters for up to four months for non-compliance with its recommendations, decisions, and warnings.

Napo-Koura has previously faced legal action over his reporting. In September, he was questioned by judicial police following a complaint by the civil service minister, Gilbert Bawara, over an August 2023 Tampa Express report on allegations of corruption in civil service recruitment, Napo-Koura and Kpade told CPJ, adding that the case was pending with the prosecutor.

CPJ’s calls to Gafan and the HAAC to request comment were not answered.

The HAAC suspended Liberté newspaper in 2022 and L’Alternative and Fraternité newspapers in 2021 and barred L’Indépendant Express from publishing in 2021 over their critical reporting.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

CHISINAU -- Moldova has paused a recruitment effort to funnel construction workers to Israel, alleging that Israelis have put Moldovans in "high-risk conflict zones," withheld passports, and committed other abuses while plugging gaps in their workforce brought on by the current war in the Gaza Strip.

The Labor Ministry confirmed to RFE/RL's Moldovan Service this week that Chisinau had "temporarily postponed" the latest round of recruitment under the bilateral agreement following the accusations by Moldovan citizens, but said it could resume once Israel confirmed the practices were stopped and "security and respect" for Moldovan nationals were ensured.

Israel has faced an acute labor squeeze since hundreds of thousands of reservists and other Israelis were called up to fight and thousands of Palestinians were denied access to jobs in Israel after gunmen from the EU- and U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas carried out a massive cross-border attack that killed just over 1,100 people, most of them Israeli civilians, on October 7.

"As a result of the deterioration of the security situation in the state of Israel, workers from the Republic of Moldova were employed to work in high-risk conflict zones, some citizens had their passports withheld by employers, complaints were registered about the confiscation of workers' luggage, as well as Israeli authorities carried out activities of direct recruitment of Moldovan workers, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, which is contrary to the provisions of the agreement," the ministry said in a January 17 response to an RFE/RL access-to-information request.

The ministry did not accuse the Israeli state of perpetrating the abuses. It said Moldovan officials have reported the "violations" to Israel and asked it to put a stop to them and "ensure the security and respect of the rights of workers coming from the Republic of Moldova," one of Europe's poorest countries with a population of some 3.4 million.

The Moldovan Embassy in Tel Aviv said some 13,000 Moldovans were in Israel before the current war broke out. Many work at construction sites or provide care for the elderly, inside or outside the auspices of the recruitment agreement.

Israeli authorities did not immediately respond to RFE/RL's request for comment on the Labor Ministry's accusations.

Since the war erupted in early October, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has sought to extend worker visas and attract more foreign labor from around the world, including by raising its quota on foreign construction workers by roughly half, to 65,000 individuals.

It appealed publicly for 1,200 new Moldovan workers for the construction sector, including blacksmiths, painters, and carpenters.

Speaking in Israel's parliament, the Knesset, the director of the Foreign Workers Administration, Inbal Mashash, named Moldova, along with Thailand and Sri Lanka, as countries where Israeli hopes were highest for more guest workers.

The bilateral Moldovan-Israeli agreement on temporary employment in "certain sectors" including construction in Israel was signed in 2012 and has been amended on multiple occasions, including in December.

In addition to setting up training and procedures to regulate and steer labor flows, it imposes restrictions that include a ban on Israeli companies recruiting on Moldovan territory.

In its decade-long existence, some 17,000 Moldovans have worked in Israel under the auspices of the agreement through 28 rounds of recruitment. At the last available official count, in 2022, there were about 4,000 participating Moldovans.

"The [29th] recruitment round will resume once the above-mentioned irregularities are eliminated and we receive confirmation from the Israeli side of the necessary measures being taken to ensure security and respect for the rights of employed [Moldovan] citizens on the territory of the state of Israel," the Moldovan Labor Ministry said.

From the early days of the current war, Moldovans have spoken out about family concerns and the pressures to pack up and leave Israel, but most appear to have stayed.

As rumors spread of pressure on Moldovan construction workers to stay in Israel after a January 5 pause announcement, Labor Minister Alexei Buzu confirmed there were problems but focused on the accusation that Israeli firms were improperly recruiting Moldovans outside the program or for repeat stints.

A failure to comply with some provisions brings "a risk that other commitments will be ignored [or] will not be delivered at the time or according to the expectations described in the agreement," he said.

Buzu stopped short of leveling some of the most serious accusations involving Moldovan workers being sent to work in 'high-risk conflict zones" or having their passports or belongings taken from them.

Reuters has reported that the worker shortage is costing Israel's construction sector around $37 million per day.

Moldova's National Employment Agency (ANOFM) is responsible for implementing the Israeli-Moldovan recruitment agreement. The Labor Ministry said the agency had already lined up construction recruits and scheduled professional exams for the end of December before the postponement.

The ministry said a similar agreement on the home-caregiver sector between Moldova and Israel -- the subject of negotiations in December -- had “not yet been signed."

The Hamas-led surprise attack on October 7 sparked a massive response from Israel including devastating aerial bombardments and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, which was home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the latest fighting displaced most of them.

The Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza say 24,700 people have been killed in the subsequent fighting and 62,000 more injured.

This content originally appeared on News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty and was authored by News - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty.

"Japan has been hit by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake – retribution?" Hainan Radio and Television news anchor Xiao Chenghao wrote in the title of a commentary video on his personal social media account on Monday.

The provincial state broadcaster said in a statement on its official Weibo account on Tuesday that Hao was currently under investigation and was suspended from his job.

"We have set up an investigation into the inappropriate comments made by our presenter Xiao Chenghao on his personal social media account," Hainan Radio and TV said. "He will not be working for the time being."

Xiao Chenghao, a #TV host at #Hainan Broadcasting Group, has been suspended for posting inappropriate remarks on his personal social media account about the magnitude-7.6 #earthquake that struck #Ishikawa Prefecture in #Japan. #earthquakejapan #socialmedia… pic.twitter.com/rapxickMlg

— Shanghai Daily (@shanghaidaily) January 3, 2024

A powerful 7.6 magnitude quake struck north-central Japan on Monday, killing dozens of people under collapsed buildings and sparking tsunami warnings along the coast. The death toll on Wednesday was 62.

The Japanese government applied the Disaster Relief Act towards 35 cities, 11 towns and 1 village in 4 prefectures including Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa and Fukui in order to lead the national-level relief operations, the Red Cross reported on Jan. 2.

At least 30,251 people are now living in evacuation centers run by the local authorities in Ishikawa Prefecture, it said.

Xiao's suspension comes after a wave of anti-Japanese sentiment swept China in August, as Beijing criticized the release of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean, sparking fears of tainted seafood and environmental damage.

Japanese businesses and public venues from concert halls to aquariums also were targeted by large numbers of nuisance callers from China, who posted videos of themselves to social media making the calls. That prompted Japan's top regional diplomat Hiroyuki Namazu to call on the Chinese Embassy to calm down supporters of the Communist Party dubbed "little pinks."

An official from the station's Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office told Oriental News that Xiao's video would be deleted, and should never have been posted.

Mixed reactions

The news prompted mixed reactions on Chinese social media platforms, with some comments saying Xiao's comments should be viewed in the context of Japanese wartime atrocities in China during the occupation.

"We need to view Japan from a historical perspective, soberly, toughly, and take a stand," blogger Bei_Debt_Optimization commented, adding that the probe into Xiao had "softened the bones of our ancestors."

"You can offer disaster relief to Japan, but you mustn't stop people from commenting," the blogger wrote. "I support Cheng Hao and all who speak out for justice."

Blogger Mr._Yu said Japan's discharge of wastewater had "ignored global opposition, the environment and marine life."

"Do the oceans belong to Japan, or to all of humanity?" the blogger wrote. "They caused irreversible damage to the marine ecology out of selfishness."

But there were signs that those closer to Beijing took a dim view of such nationalism.

Former Global Times Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin said Xiao's comment would "damage the image" of a state-run broadcaster, and said he supported the move to suspend him.

Veteran U.S.-based political commentator Hu Ping said that while the ruling Communist Party will tolerate nationalistic comments and anti-Japanese sentiment among ordinary people online, it draws the line at making such comments official in any way.

"It's about his identity [as a state TV anchor]," Hu said. "The Chinese Communist Party won't do anything if it's just ordinary people, nobodies [saying such things]."

"But others will see his statement as coming from an official perspective, because he works for the state media," he said.

"People will wonder whether such remarks represent the official view, and they will naturally believe that they do," Hu said. "He should have been more cautious, coming as he did from an official background."

Independent current affairs commentator Ji Feng said nobody should gloat over natural disasters anyway.

"The Japanese invaded China, but just because they invaded us back then, we can't be full of hatred and gloat – disasters are disasters and war is war," he said. 

He said the disciplinary action against Xiao wasn't an act of support for Japan.

"They are trying to suppress his ignorant and negative remarks," Ji said. "They are sending the clear message that if the party and government tell you to shut up, then you shut up."

He said Beijing likes to drum up populist sentiment when it suits its agenda.

"Populism can be rolled out when needed, and suppressed when it's not," he said. "They have no need for anti-Japanese sentiment right now, so they need to suppress it."

Ji said the government could equally decide to allow further Japan-bashing in future, however.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday endorsed his Cabinet’s approval of a motion of the suspension, according to a statement from the South’s Presidential Office. 

The decision follows close on the heels of North Korea’s satellite launch despite international warnings late Tuesday. The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency later reported that it has successfully put its spy satellite into orbit.

Pyongyang’s provocative move, also drew strong rebuke from Seoul’s ally, the United States, which chastised North Korea for undermining stability on the Korean peninsula.

Rocket technology can be used for both launching satellites and missiles. For that reason, the U.N. bans North Korea from launching a ballistic rocket, even if it claims to be a satellite launch. 

“North Korea ignored repeated warnings from us and the international community and launched a so-called ‘military reconnaissance satellite’ last night,” South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said at an emergency cabinet meeting in Seoul Wednesday. 

“This is a grave violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that prohibit any launch by North Korea using ballistic missile technology and a direct provocation that threatens our security.”

The prime minister said the launch also shows the North’s clear defiance of the military agreement signed on Sept. 19, 2018 to reduce hostility and build trust on the Korean peninsula.

“We came to the conclusion that tolerating any further restrictions on our military's intelligence and surveillance activities in the border area in accordance with the September 19 Military Agreement would significantly reduce our readiness and lead to a situation where we would be unable to protect the lives and safety of our citizens,” Han said, noting that Seoul is suspending the effectiveness of the some parts of the agreement until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored.

While the prime minister did not elaborate on the exact parts of the deal that Seoul was suspending, his remarks suggested South Korea was likely to resume reconnaissance and surveillance operations against North Korea in the area around the military demarcation line.

Han said restrictions spelled out in the agreement have limited South Korea’s ability to identify North Korean artillery attacks and train its armed forces to prepare for them, leaving them vulnerable should a surprise attack from the North occur.

“The immediate resumption of reconnaissance and surveillance activities along the Military Demarcation Line through the partial suspension of the September 19 Military Agreement will greatly enhance our military’s ability to identify threat targets and respond to North Korean threats.”

The two Koreas have agreed to halt what the other has defined as hostile actions toward one another near the border, but the North has conducted a number of provocations, violating the terms of the agreement. Critics in South Korea, thus, have long argued that the deal has already become ineffective, only serving to restrict Seoul’s operational and surveillance capabilities. 

North Korea has been solidifying its ties with Russia, and South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said earlier this month that it is likely to have received help in obtaining satellite launch technology from Moscow. 

The launch comes as Yoon is in London for his state visit to the United Kingdom. North Korea has a history of provocations when South Korean presidents are abroad, seemingly to challenge Seoul’s response capabilities and the efficiency of its systems in the president’s absence.

Edited by Elaine Chan and Taejun Kang.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Lee Jeong-Ho for RFA.

On September 29, Christof Maletsky, CEO of state-owned New Era Publication Corporation, which publishes the daily newspaper, suspended Beukes until October 31 over an editorial critical of the judiciary, three journalists who saw the suspension letter told CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals.

In the suspension letter, Maletsky raised issues regarding non-compliance with New Era’s mandate and the overall professional conduct of the newspaper, according to the journalists. Maletsky barred Beukes from making public statements about his suspension and from entering New Era’s offices in Windhoek, the capital, those sources said.

“Johnathan Beukes’ suspension raises serious questions about the editorial independence of New Era, a taxpayer-funded publication,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator, Angela Quintal, in New York. “Beukes must be allowed to resume work immediately, and New Era’s management should allow the publication’s editors and journalists to exercise their editorial judgment and to keep the public informed without interference or censorship.”

On October 2, the newspaper published a front-page apology to the judiciary, saying it had “published stories and an editorial that fell way below the standards that we had set ourselves.” It referred to an editorial that “painted a picture of a non-transparent commission with regards to the selection of a judge for the Fishrot corruption trial.” The Fishrot case involves an international scandal over alleged corruption in the country’s fishing quota system that has ensnared former government ministers.

On September 29, New Era published an editorial, which CPJ reviewed, alleging the judiciary lacked transparency in its public communications over the appointment of judges and questioning why it never responded to demands for transparency in its decisions. 

John Nakuta, Namibia’s Media Ombudsman, whose office is mandated with hearing complaints against the media, said that he would review the content of the editorial but not the suspension decision, following a referral from the local press freedom organization Editors’ Forum of Namibia, The Namibian newspaper reported. 

On October 9, the Namibian Media Professionals Union led a peaceful protest at the New Era offices, calling for Beukes’ suspension to be lifted. 

Maletsky told CPJ via messaging app that the matter was an internal process that should be allowed to run its course.  

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

"It's a shame that we needed a court to tell the Forest Service that they must follow the bedrock environmental laws that have been in place for decades," Jamie Dawson of Greater Hells Canyon Council said in response to the ruling. "Completing a full public process and taking a hard look at the environmental impacts of their actions is the least they should be doing, especially when considering such an impactful decision."

"The Forest Service rushed through a politically motivated rule change to log the most ecologically important trees left on our landscape."

The last-minute Trump administration rollback targeted something called the Eastside Screens. These were put in place in the mid-1990s to protect the Pacific Northwest's old-growth forests after decades of logging had put them at risk, Oregon Wild explained. They prohibited loggers from targeting any trees east of the cascades larger than 21 inches in diameter. The screens protected trees in six national forests in eastern Oregon and Washington, comprising more than seven million acres of public land.

While these trees only make up around 3% of trees in the region, they provide vital habitat for wildlife, and recent research indicates that they store 42% of the forests' carbon, playing an important role in combating the climate crisis.

"The Forest Service rushed through a politically motivated rule change to log the most ecologically important trees left on our landscape," Chris Krupp of WildEarth Guardians said in a statement. "Sadly, this is in line with their well-earned reputation for putting logging before the need to address the climate and biodiversity crises."

WildEarth Guardians and Greater Hells Canyon Council were two of the groups that sued to reverse the rollback on June 14, 2022, along with Oregon Wild, Central Oregon LandWatch, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, and the Sierra Club. The groups also had the support of the Nez Pierce Tribe.

In changing the rule, the Trump administration argued that it was protecting the forests from wildfires.

"We're looking to create landscapes that withstand and recover more quickly from wildfire, drought, and other disturbances," Ochoco National Forest supervisor Shane Jeffries told Oregon Public Broadcasting at the time, according to AP. "We're not looking to take every grand fir and white fir out of the forests."

However, in the years since the rule change, the Forest Service has proposed logging larger trees on thousands of acres of Oregon forest, including previously untouched forests in Hells Canyon National Recreation Area.

"Individually and collectively, these projects will damage wildlife habitat, contribute to climate change, deplete important carbon stores, and harm other environmental, social, and cultural values at a time when we simply can't afford to move in the wrong direction," Oregon Wild wrote.

In their lawsuit, the groups said that the last-minute rule change violated the National Environmental Protection Act, National Forest Management Act, and the Endangered Species Act by failing to take into account its impacts and not allowing the public enough time to comment.

The judge agreed.

"The highly uncertain effects of this project, when considered in light of its massive scope and setting, raise substantial questions about whether this project will have a significant effect on the environment," Hallman wrote, as AP reported.

The green groups behind the suit are pleased with the ruling, but also think the Biden administration could do more to protect forests, in line with an Earth Day Executive Order to take stock of the nation's remaining old-growth forests and develop a plan to protect them from wildfires and other threats.

"We call on the Biden administration to stop defending this illegal Trump rule change," Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild said in a statement.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.

“The court-imposed suspension of TELE1 due to an RTÜK order, along with the imprisonment of the outlet’s chief editor Merdan Yanardağ in June, are unlawful and shameful acts aimed at intimidating the opposition media in Turkey into silence,” said Özgür Öğret, CPJ’s Turkey representative, on Tuesday. “TELE1 should immediately be allowed to continue broadcasting, and Turkish authorities should make peace with the fact that a free and critical news media is essential for democracy.”

The blackout started on Sunday, August 6, and will last until Saturday, August 12, according to reports by TELE1 and other outlets.

Yanardağ was arrested, pending trial, in June due to his criticism of authorities over the prison conditions of Abdullah Öcalan, the convicted leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.

At that time, RTÜK also ordered a seven-day suspension of TELE1, which was delayed pending a lawsuit filed by the media organization. The RTÜK decisions can be appealed in court, according to the related Turkish laws. However, TELE1 reported on August 1 that it had been informed that an Ankara court had lifted the stay of execution and allowed the suspension to go into effect.

RTÜK’s board is based on political party seats in parliament, which is currently controlled by the ruling Justice and Development Party and its allies. In the past, RTÜK has favored pro-government outlets and has focused penalties on critical outlets. In April, CPJ joined other press freedom, freedom of expression, and human rights organizations in calling for the regulator to stop punishing broadcasters for critical reporting.

TELE1 published a press statement on Saturday assuring its audience that the outlet will live on and “continue on its path as a distinguished example of honorable journalism in the history of the press.” The outlet also published an online video that day in which the TELE1 staff vowed to continue doing their jobs after the suspension ends despite the pressure they face.

CPJ emailed RTÜK but did not receive a response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

On June 23, Burkina Faso’s media regulator, the Superior Council for Communication (known by its French acronym CSC), suspended LCI, which is part of private broadcaster TF1, for three months for allegedly airing false information about deteriorating security conditions in the country on its current affairs show, “24H Pujadas,” according to several media reports and a copy of the decision.

“We call on the Burkinabè authorities to reverse their decision and immediately lift the suspension of LCI’s broadcasting,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator in New York. “The latest suspension of a French media outlet over its insurgency reporting appears retaliatory rather than grounded in fact and robs the people of Burkina Faso of their right to know what is happening in their country.”

Thousands of Burkinabè citizens have died and millions have been displaced in the eight-year insurgency led by militants affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Islamic State, who currently control large areas of the country. Soured relations between France, the country’s former colonial power, and Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta led to the February withdrawal of French troops helping to fight the insurgents.

LCI is the third French outlet to be suspended since December 2022 in Burkina Faso after France 24’s suspension in March and the radio station RFI in December. In addition, two French journalists working for Le Monde and Libération were expelled from Burkina Faso in April.

The CSC suspension decision said commentary by LCI’s popular “24H Pujadas” host, Abnousse Shalmani, on an April 24 segment titled “Sahel, the lost zone” was “not based on any concrete evidence” and “lacked objectivity and credibility.” It also said the report exaggerated the scale of the insurgency and “seditiously” exposed “unverified” failures in Burkina Faso’s military response to the insurgency, Reuters reported.

Blahima Traoré, CSC general secretary, told CPJ by messaging app that the three satellite television providers that carry LCI for subscribers, were formally notified of the decision on June 23.

Canal+ Burkina, Neerwaya Multivision, and Stars Médias Burkina—the three providers—would be “liable for penalties” if they failed to suspend LCI for three months from the notification date, a CSC notification sent to Canal+ Burkina’s general manager said. At least one of the three—Canal+ Burkina—has suspended LCI broadcasts, but the channel is still available online, Guézouma Sanogo, president of the Association of Journalists of Burkina, told CPJ via messaging app on July 10. CPJ was not able to immediately confirm whether Neerwaya Multivision and Stars Médias Burkina have suspended LCI broadcasts.

According to Article 46 of the 2013 law that establishes the regulator and sets out its powers and composition, the CSC can suspend the broadcasting of a program “for a maximum of three months” depending on the seriousness of the breach.

CPJ tried unsuccessfully to contact LCI and Shalmani for comment via their social media accounts.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

An Indonesian court hearing was held at Tipikor Court, Jakarta, last week when suspended Papuan Governor Lukas Enembe was arraigned before a panel of judges on allegations of bribery and gratification over the Papua provincial infrastructure project.

The panel of judges refused Enembe’s exception, or memorandum of objection, to the charges after finding sufficient evidence to reject the governor’s arguments.

However, given the governor’s ill health, the judges ruled to prioritise his health and grant his request to suspend proceedings until he is medically fit to stand trial.

• READ MORE: Papua governor Lukas Enembe’s legal drama and tragedy in Jakarta
• Other reports about Governor Enembe

The governor’s request to have his son’s Melbourne-based university student bank account unblocked to continue his studies was not granted, and his legal case is pending.

The following three points were determined by the judges last Monday week (24 June 2023):

1. Granted the access request of the defendant/the defendant’s legal advisory team;
2. Ordered the Public Prosecutor at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to object to the detention of Lukas Enembe from 26 June to 9 July 2023; and
3. Ordered the Public Prosecutor at the commission to report on the progress of the defendant’s health to court.

Abandoned in Indonesia’s military hospital
Governor Lukas Enembe is now being held in Indonesia’s military hospital (Gatot Soebroto Army Hospital) in Jakarta.

The governor repeatedly informed the Indonesian authorities that he was in need of medical treatment and needed to be monitored in Singapore by his regular medical specialists. These requests, however, have been rejected to date.

Psychologically, his treatment in Singapore is completely different from that in Jakarta. The governor is constantly being monitored by KPK, treated by KPK’s appointed doctors in military-controlled hospitals.

It is highly unlikely that these environments are ideal for his recovery. The hospital where he is currently being held is named after a national hero of Indonesia, Gatot Soebroto.

In 1819, the hospital was established as the main hospital for the Indonesian Army. The hospital also provides limited services for civilians. Papua’s governor, the head of the Papuan tribes, is now being held in this military hospital.

The governor’s family complains about the ongoing inhumane treatment.

The governor’s family admits that it was difficult for them to care for him while he was abandoned at Gatot Subroto Army Central Hospital, as determined by a panel of judges from the Jakarta Corruption Court (Tipikor).

Restrictions imposed
Governor Enembe’s family said the detention officers imposed restrictions on them.

Elius Enembe, the governor’s brother, and family spokesperson, said: “KPK Detention Centre regulations allow us to visit Mr Lukas only on Mondays. It was only for two hours.”

According to Elius, the family feels that two hours of treatment a week are not adequate and not optimal for treatment, reports Odiyaiwuu.com.

Governor Enembe is currently under the custody of the judicial system, not KPK. Thus it is the judge, and not the KPK, who has the authority to determine when and how long the family is allowed to visit Enembe.

“But why are we restricted by KPK detention officers now?” Elius said.

Even in the courtroom, the judge explained that Mr Lukas’ treatment at the hospital follows standard hospital operating procedures and not KPK detention procedures.

Moreover, the KPK prosecutor was present in the courtroom and was able to hear the judge’s statement that Lukas Enembe’s delivery followed hospital procedures, not those at the KPK detention facility.

Family objections
Because of this, Elius said, the family strongly objected to the restrictions placed by KPK detention officers on the days and hours of Enembe’s visit.

According to Elius, Lukas Enembe’s ongoing trial would undoubtedly be a unique legal cases both in Indonesia and internationally.

Lukas Enembe, who suffers from various serious health conditions, such as chronic kidney disease — stage 5, suffered four strokes, and has hepatitis, and is being abandoned at Gatot Soebroto Hospital. His physical condition is very poor, and his legs are swollen.

He is the only defendant who has appeared before the court barefoot and wearing training pants. As well as being the only defendant accompanied by a lawyer in the defendant’s seat, he was also the only defendant whose defence memorandum was not read by himself or by a lawyer.

Governor Lukas Enembe has difficulty speaking after suffering the strokes and needs to use the bathroom frequently.

“This will undoubtedly be a historical record in itself, a citizen of this country [with senior official roles] . . .  ranging from the Deputy Regent of Puncak to the two-term Governor of Papua, and yet has been treated as a criminal,” said Enembe’s younger brother in Jakarta, reports Kompas.com.

KPK continues to issue new accusations and allegations, which are being widely reported by Indonesia’s national media.

Case takes new turn
The corruption case against Governor Lukas Enembe, however, took a new turn when allegations of misappropriation of the Papuan Regional Budget (APBD) funds emerged, according to Busnis.com.

The governor’s senior lawyer, Professor O C Kaligis, challenged KPK’s new allegations as “tendentious and misleading”, reports Innews.co.

KPK is now investigating a massive sport, cultural, and recreational complex built under Lukas Enembe’s administration and named the Lukas Enembe Stadium.

The governor has only been given until July 6 to get some treatment for his deteriorating health.

There is an element of brutality, savagery, and mercilessness in Jakarta’s treatment of this Papuan leader.

The once highly acclaimed Papuan tribal chief, governor, and leader not just of his people, but of Indonesians and Melanesian as well many people, is being locked up and tortured in Jakarta as if he is a “dangerous terrorist’.

As his family, Papuans, lawyers, and he himself have warned, if he dies the KPK would be responsible for his death.

Yamin Kogoya is a West Papuan academic/activist who has a Master of Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development from the Australian National University and who contributes to Asia Pacific Report. From the Lani tribe in the Papuan Highlands, he is currently living in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

• Other Yamin Kogoya articles

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

• China suspends sales of U.S. company Micron
• China’s food security faces the challenge of an aging rural workforce
• Two Ming Dynasty ships found in South China Sea
• Tibetan village turned into a large Buddhist art factory

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Dongsheng News.

Between April 3 and April 6, Georgia’s parliament suspended for one month the accreditations of three reporters and three camera operators from pro-opposition broadcasters Formula TV, Mtavari Arkhi, and TV Pirveli, citing new regulations prohibiting journalists from interviewing members of parliament without consent, according to news reports, copies of the journalists’ suspension notifications shared with CPJ or published on social media, and Mariam Gogosashvili, executive director of independent trade group Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics (GCJE), who spoke to CPJ by phone.

Three of the suspended journalists told CPJ by messaging app that they believed the real reason for their ban was that they asked parliamentary deputies inconvenient questions and said the regulations were used to silence critical media.

Speaker of Parliament Shalva Papuashvili rejected claims that the suspensions were related to the journalists’ critical questions, attributing the ban to their “harassment” of parliament members.

“Georgia’s parliament should withdraw the unwarranted accreditation suspensions of six pro-opposition journalists and rework its accreditation regulations, which appear all too open to abuse,” said Carlos Martínez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “If Georgian authorities are serious about reducing political and media polarization, they should work with all journalists to devise acceptable and sustainable regulatory frameworks.”

Parliament suspended the accreditation of Formula TV reporter Sofio Gozalishvili and camera operator Giga Agdgomelashvili, Mtavari Arkhi reporter Tatia Tsotsanava and camera operator Zuka Chkhvirkia, and TV Pirveli reporter Rusudan Dumbadze and camera operator Irakli Murmanshvili, according to news reports and Gogosashvili. 

Gozalishvili, Tsotsanava, and Dumbadze told CPJ they denied acting inappropriately during their interviews. Dumbadze said ruling party parliament members routinely decline interviews with pro-opposition media, so impromptu interviews are often the only way to get comments, adding that the new regulations help the ruling party evade scrutiny from critical media.

Parliament’s accreditation regulations for journalists took effect on March 1 and require journalists to terminate interviews with parliamentary members, staff, or visitors if the latter refuse permission to record, according to a GCJE statement. They also allow parliament to deny access to accredited journalists on vague security grounds and introduce restrictions on journalists’ freedom of movement and right to film inside parliament.

Journalists can be suspended for a month for the first violation and six months for repeat offenses. Media outlets are limited on the number of accredited journalists they can have and are not allowed to replace suspended journalists.

Previously, there were no written regulations governing accreditation, which was provided as needed in the form of day passes rather than for a year as per the new regulations, Gogosashvili said.

Georgia’s Public Defender, a human rights ombudsman elected by parliament, and independent trade group Media Advocacy Coalition condemned the suspensions and called for reforming the new regulations.

Watchdogs have criticized the regulations for lacking an appeals process and for the broad discretion afforded to parliamentary authorities deciding on violations. Media advocacy groups are currently challenging the regulations in the courts, Gogosashvili said.

Previously, in March, parliament suspended the accreditation of Natia Amiranashvili, editor of the independent news website Publika, for one month, Gogosashvili said.

In December 2022, Georgia’s parliament passed amendments to the country’s broadcasting law that media advocates fear could be used to target pro-opposition TV channels. In March 2023, authorities were forced to shelve proposed bills that would have designated media outlets as foreign agents following widespread protests.

CPJ’s email to the Parliament of Georgia did not receive a reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Authorities in Burkina Faso should reverse their decision to suspend France 24, as well as their previous suspension of French broadcaster RFI, and should allow all people in the country to access the news freely,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “Reporting on issues related to terrorism should not trigger blanket indefinite censorship of an entire outlet.”

On March 6, France 24 aired a discussion about their interview with AQIM head Abu Obeida Youssef al-Anabi, also known as Yezid Mebarek. On March 27, France 24 released a statement defending their work, saying they never directly gave the head the floor and presented his comments in journalistic context, and the interview confirmed that AQIM had held journalist Olivier Dubois, who had been abducted in Mali in April 2021 and was released on March 20, 2023. 

As of Tuesday, March 28, France 24’s programming was no longer available on TV or radio in Burkina Faso, but could still be accessed online, according to the outlet and Arnaud Ouédraogo, coordinator of the Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa (CENOZO), a Burkina Faso-based news outlet and investigative journalism organization, who spoke to CPJ by phone.

In December 2022, Burkinabe authorities suspended Radio France Internationale, another subsidiary of the French state-owned company France Media Monde, over accusations that the broadcaster relayed an “intimidation message” attributed to a “terrorist leader.”

In March 2022, authorities in Mali suspended both RFI and France 24, accusing them of airing “false allegations” about the country’s military.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Authorities in Burkina Faso should reverse their decision to suspend France 24, as well as their previous suspension of French broadcaster RFI, and should allow all people in the country to access the news freely,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “Reporting on issues related to terrorism should not trigger blanket indefinite censorship of an entire outlet.”

On March 6, France 24 aired a discussion about their interview with AQIM head Abu Obeida Youssef al-Anabi, also known as Yezid Mebarek. On March 27, France 24 released a statement defending their work, saying they never directly gave the head the floor and presented his comments in journalistic context, and the interview confirmed that AQIM had held journalist Olivier Dubois, who had been abducted in Mali in April 2021 and was released on March 20, 2023. 

As of Tuesday, March 28, France 24’s programming was no longer available on TV or radio in Burkina Faso, but could still be accessed online, according to the outlet and Arnaud Ouédraogo, coordinator of the Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism in West Africa (CENOZO), a Burkina Faso-based news outlet and investigative journalism organization, who spoke to CPJ by phone.

In December 2022, Burkinabe authorities suspended Radio France Internationale, another subsidiary of the French state-owned company France Media Monde, over accusations that the broadcaster relayed an “intimidation message” attributed to a “terrorist leader.”

In March 2022, authorities in Mali suspended both RFI and France 24, accusing them of airing “false allegations” about the country’s military.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On Wednesday, March 15, the outlet suspended its operations indefinitely, according to media reports and the outlet’s owner, David Boio, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.

Boio told CPJ that the decision to shutter Camunda News, which covered current affairs on its website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel, came after months of government harassment.

“Angolan authorities must commit to the development of a free and independent media and refrain from harassing online outlets like Camunda News,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “Instead of censorship through intimidation and archaic licensing requirements, the government should encourage a plurality of media to fulfill the public’s right to access information.”

In October 2022, officials with the police National Criminal Investigation Service, the SIC, questioned Boio about Nelson Demba, an activist and co-host of the weekly current affairs show 360˚ aired on Camunda News’ YouTube and Facebook channels, Boio told CPJ.

Demba is facing charges including incitement to rebellion and outrage against the president, and is presently in hiding, according to reports, which said he believes the charges against him are retaliation for his political activity.

Boio told CPJ that SIC officers had also summoned Camunda News senior reporter llídio Manuel and two other staff members in October. He declined to name those staffers for fear of their safety.

Subsequently, in February 2023, SIC officers called Boio to summon him for questioning as a potential state witness in Demba’s case, according to Boio and those news reports. In that phone call, an investigator warned Boio that an arrest warrant would be issued if he failed to appear and instructed him to bring company documents related to Camunda News.

During three hours of questioning on March 7, Boio told CPJ that he was only asked one question about Demba and that most of the questions were related to Camunda News, its legal status and funding, and his personal life.

Shortly after that questioning, Boio suspended Camunda News’ current affairs video content. On Wednesday, he suspended the entire platform, he said.

“The harassment and intimidation are getting to a point where it could lead to more serious problems, and we know how the system in Angola can be complicated and make up serious accusations, so I need to consider my safety as well as that of all others working at Camunda,” Boio told CPJ.

Manuel, the senior reporter summoned in October, told CPJ that he was unable to hire a lawyer in time and did not attend the questioning, and had not received another summons. He said no details of the case had been disclosed to him.

Boio told CPJ that in May 2020 an SIC investigator had arrived at Camunda News’ offices and asked about its ownership, and the following day the broadcaster received a notification from the Ministry of Telecommunications Technologies and Media requesting the documentation to prove the outlet was operating legally.

“We wrote back to the Ministry explaining that we couldn’t find the legal framework for online content such as what we produced,” Boio told CPJ.

“If we had a license, we would probably be treated the same way the TV channels that got cancelled did, but because there is no legal framework they use SIC to intimidate us,” Boio said. Authorities suspended three TV broadcasters in 2021.

Benja Satula, a lawyer representing Camunda News, told CPJ via messaging app that there is no legal framework covering online content platforms, so there could be no illegal activity warranting a criminal investigation.

SIC spokesperson Manuel Alaiwa responded to CPJ’s requests for comment by phone and messaging app saying that he would call later. He had not responded by the time of publication.

When CPJ called Ministry of Telecommunications Technologies and Media spokesperson João Demba for comment, he said the ministry could not comment because it was awaiting information from the SIC.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

The lecturer was named on social media as Chen Saibin from the school of economics and management at the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

"Social media posts currently circulating about a lecturer from this university who made inappropriate remarks have prompted concern and public debate," the university's Communist Party committee said in a statement on March 9.

"We take this very seriously, and have immediately set in motion an investigation," it said. "The lecturer's classes will be suspended for the duration of the investigation."

The move comes as the ruling Chinese Communist Party tightens its ideological grip on higher education in the country amid structural changes begun in 2021 that allow a far greater degree of party control in the day-to-day running of colleges and universities.

The university said it had a zero-tolerance policy towards "moral misconduct" among faculty, a reference to a political buzzword used to refer to teachers who refuse to toe the party line in class.

The topic of food security is a highly sensitive one for Beijing, which has ordered officials at every level to crack down on food waste, and recently revamped a Mao-era system of food distribution that analysts said could provide a network of emergency logistics in the event of war.

China has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of military force to annex Taiwan, which has never been ruled by Beijing and whose 23 million people have no interest in giving up their sovereignty or democratic way of life, with analysts suggesting an invasion could be possible in the next few years.

‘More civilized, more developed and more free’

Screenshots posted to social media reported that Chen had told his class: "China depends on Europe and the United States for food. If the U.S. imposes sanctions, then more than half of Chinese people will starve to death."

Chen also allegedly said that all of modern math and physics, as well as Marxism, are Western imports, as are a number of key engineering principles and many ideas in the liberal arts.

He also reportedly expressed support for gun ownership in the United States, a key propaganda tool used by Beijing against Washington, saying it could better protect women's safety.

"This is a sign that they are more civilized, more developed and more free in the United States," Chen allegedly told his students, according to the screenshots, citing the vicious beatings of several women at a Tangshan barbecue restaurant in June 2022 as evidence that the U.S. is safer than China for women.

State media and officials have repeatedly used gun violence as a way to hit back against criticism of Beijing's rights record, or security measures and sanctions imposed by the United States.

The English-language Global Times quoted a U.S.-based student in February as saying "Chinese students in the U.S. face multiple torments of gun violence and racial discrimination," while a Feb. 28 article in the same paper said the U.S. claim to be a "beacon of democracy" was undermined by "drug abuse, growing worries around gun violence [and] an ever-widening economic gap between the haves and the have-nots."

An employee who answered the phone at the management committee at the university's Jiangjun Road campus confirmed the statement and the lecturer's identity when contacted by Radio Free Asia on March 9.

"Our party committee has already responded to this," the employee said. "The matter is under investigation, and there are no conclusions yet."

Retired Shanghai lecturer Gu Guoping said none of Chen's comments had violated Chinese law, however.

"These so-called inappropriate remarks don't break any current Chinese law," Gu said. "It's part of the academic tradition to express different views and opinions."

Informing on lecturers

Current affairs commentator Bi Xin said it is increasingly common for students to inform on comments made by lecturers and teachers in class, citing the cases of other lecturers who had lost their jobs after making comments that were out of line with Communist Party propaganda.

"You Shengdong, a professor of economics at Xiamen University, said in class that the Chinese dream of [supreme leader] Xi Jinping was nothing but a fantasy, rather than being something rational," Bi said. "He was fired after his students reported him."

"Tang Yun, associate professor of literature at Chongqing Normal University, told his students that the official slogan "roll up your sleeves and work hard" did violence to the elegance of the Chinese language," he said. "His students complained about him and his teaching qualification was revoked."

"There is a terrifying culture now of students informing on their teachers," he said.

A resident of the central province of Hubei who gave only the surname Mao for fear of reprisals, said a culture of informing is the product of an authoritarian regime.

"It causes extreme mutual distrust and suspicion at every level of society," Mao said. "This causes basic standards of social morality to deteriorate."

Some social media comments thought Chen's comments were indeed out of line, and shouldn't be allowed to go unchecked.

Some referred to Chen as "a bad influence" who should be investigated, while others called for the "vigorous removal of poisonous teachers and poisonous teaching materials."

Other comments lamented that Chen hadn't been allowed to "tell the truth" in class, while some hit out at the students, saying they should have challenged Chen at the time rather than posting his comments on social media.

Education ministry guidelines on "moral misconduct" among university lecturers dated Nov. 8, 2018 call on universities and colleges to take action if faculty fail to toe the party line, ranging from public criticism and demerits affecting promotion and research funding to dismissals and the revocation of teaching credentials.

"Those who are members of the Chinese Communist Party will be sanctioned under party disciplinary processes at the same time," the guidelines said.

"Those who are suspected of breaking the law and committing crimes will have their cases transferred to law enforcement and judicial agencies."

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Gu Ting for RFA Mandarin.

On the evening of Sunday, March 5, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, the country’s broadcast regulator, issued the ban on airing Khan’s speeches, which went into effect on Monday, and warned that violators will have their licenses canceled, according to news reports.

Hours after the order was announced on Sunday, PEMRA suspended ARY News’ license for broadcasting a speech by Khan, according to those sources and ARY News CEO Salman Iqbal, who spoke to CPJ by phone. ARY News remains off the air as of Monday evening, Iqbal said.

“Pakistan’s ban on satellite television channels broadcasting former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s speeches and the suspension of ARY News’ license are the government’s latest attacks on press freedom and the right to information,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Authorities must immediately reverse these blatant acts of censorship and allow the media to report on key political developments in the country freely.”

PEMRA’s order followed a Sunday speech by Khan, head of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party who has been pushing for early elections, in which he alleged that former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had orchestrated Khan’s removal from power in April 2022, according to those sources. Before the speech, authorities unsuccessfully attempted to arrest Khan on corruption charges.

Iqbal told CPJ that although other Pakistani television channels broadcasted Khan’s speech Sunday, only ARY News had its license suspended. The outlet plans to file a petition against the suspension at the Sindh High Court on Tuesday, he said.

On Monday, Khan filed a petition at the Lahore High Court challenging the ban, according to reports. PEMRA previously banned live telecasts of Khan’s speeches in August and November 2022, and both orders were later reversed, according to news reports.

CPJ emailed PEMRA and called and messaged Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb for comment, but did not receive any replies.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

After Amazon on Friday confirmed plans to pause construction on its second headquarters near Washington, D.C., Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed vindication over her 2018 opposition to the tech giant's initial plan to build part of HQ2 in New York City.

Following political leaders across the country engaging in what critics called "corporate bribery," offering Amazon tax breaks and other incentives to build in their communities, the company chose to split the project between Arlington, Virginia, and the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens. However, Amazon halted plans for the NYC campus in response to local backlash.

Among the opponents was Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who said in a series of tweets Friday, "In the end, we were right."

Slate politics writer Alexander Sammon on Friday expressed hope that Ocasio-Cortez, New York State Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris (D-12), "and the small handful of Democratic politicians who had enough courage to stick their necks out and oppose this bullshit in 2018 take a nice, long victory lap today."

"This was not at all a safe position when they took it," Sammon said. "And it was thankless one—as is often the case, the consequences for the marks and corporate bootlickers who embraced [former CEO Jeff] Bezos and Amazon will be nonexistent."

In response to reporting by Bloomberg, which broke Friday's news, Gianaris tweeted that "maybe a multibillion-dollar subsidy for the biggest corporation in the world to build an office was a really bad idea after all."

Gianaris added in a statement that "Amazon's announcement shows once again that paying off a historically wealthy corporation with massive subsidies to make a single office siting decision is bad policy. It also demands we take a different approach to the use of public dollars that does not rely on providing scarce resources to those who actually need them least while continuing to shortchange the services that would actually help people's lives improve."

Amazon has nearly finished phase one of HQ2 construction, a pair of office towers, and plans to move employees into that development, Metropolitan Park, in June. However, phase two—PenPlace, set to be built across the street with three towers, a corporate conference center, and other features such as a garden—is now on hold indefinitely.

"We're always evaluating space plans to make sure they fit our business needs and to create a great experience for employees," John Schoettler, who leads Amazon's global real estate portfolio, told Bloomberg. "And since Met Park will have space to accommodate more than 14,000 employees, we've decided to shift the groundbreaking of PenPlace out a bit."

The move comes amid Amazon's biggest-ever wave of job cuts, impacting 18,000 people globally, and after CEO Andy Jassy last month announced the company would require most employees to return to the office at least three days per week come May.

"Our second headquarters has always been a multiyear project, and we remain committed to Arlington, Virginia, and the greater capital region—which includes investing in affordable housing, funding computer science education in schools across the region, and supporting dozens of local nonprofits," Schoettler added. "We appreciate the support of all our partners and neighbors, and look forward to continuing to work together in the years ahead."

Congressman Don Beyer (D-Va.) on Friday said that Amazon staff made similar assurances to him directly. He urged the Seattle-based company to "promptly update leaders and stakeholders about any new major changes in this project, which remains very important to the capital region."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Jessica Corbett.

Russian President Vladmir Putin’s announcement that Moscow would suspend its participation in the New START treaty threatens to end the last remaining nuclear arms control agreement between the United States and Russia. Putin made the pledge during his annual State of the Nation address on Tuesday, when he accused Western nations of provoking the conflict in Ukraine. The treaty limits the U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapon stockpiles and gives each country opportunities to inspect the other’s nuclear sites. Russia says it will continue to respect the caps established by the treaty, but that it will no longer allow inspections. For more on the treaty and the wider challenge of nuclear proliferation, we speak with Dr. Ira Helfand, a longtime advocate for nuclear disarmament, who says the need to end nuclear weapons “transcends” all other issues between the U.S. and Russia. “If we don’t get rid of nuclear weapons, they’re going to be used. And if they’re used, nothing else that we’re doing is going to make any difference,” says Helfand. He is the former president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which received the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize, a member of the steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, as well as the co-founder and past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

The President of Fiji has suspended the country’s chief of police and its head of prison services following advice from the Constitutional Offices Commission (COC).

The Fiji government has confirmed Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho and corrections services boss Frances Kean have been “suspended effective immediately”.

The two will remain suspended pending an investigation by a special tribunal which is yet to be established.

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President Wiliame Katonivere has appointed Assistant Police Commissioner Juki Fong Chew as acting commissioner and Salote Panapasa as the acting head of prisons.

The decision to suspend both Qiliho and Kean was made at the COC meeting yesterday  which resulted in the former prime minister and now opposition leader Voreqe Bainimarama walking out of the meeting with his nominee in the commission.

The suspension comes just a month after Fiji’s new coalition government — led by Sitiveni Rabuka — ousted the FijiFirst government from power.

FijiVillage News reports that the COC advice was conveyed to the President by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka as chairperson.

The relevant officers have been notified of their appointments and suspensions respectively.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

His Excellency, President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere has suspended the Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho and the Commissioner of the Fiji Corrections Service Francis Kean on the advice of the Constitutional Offices Commission (COC) effective immediately.#FijiNews pic.twitter.com/KZCKpmKmh2

— Fiji Government (@FijiGovernment) January 27, 2023

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

It was big news when Elon Musk suspended the Twitter accounts of at least nine tech journalists last week (over alleged dox-ing) and then reinstated them this week after Twitter users demanded as much.

The only reason for Arikat’s suspension would seem to be that he is Palestinian and speaks up for Palestinians.

But in yet another demonstration of anti-Palestinianism in the U.S. mainstream, there has been scarcely any attention given to the arbitrary suspension of Said Arikat, a fixture at the State Department briefings as the longtime Washington correspondent for Al-Quds newspaper, a Palestinian publication.

Arikat said he woke up on December 3 to read a notice from Twitter that his account had been “permanently suspended after careful review”. No reason was given; and despite the assurance that he could appeal the suspension if he thought the decision was wrong, Twitter has not responded to numerous letters Arikat has sent the media giant.

The only reason for Arikat’s suspension would seem to be that he is Palestinian and speaks up for Palestinians. His case has elicited no concern in the press. Let alone efforts to discover the pretext for the action.

Al-Quds is clearly being targeted as a Palestinian source. Today there is news that Facebook has shut down the official page of the Al-Quds newspaper.

In recent days Said Arikat has been smeared in the Zionist press as “anti-Israel” because of his questions of U.S. policy at State Department briefings. A month ago, the Jerusalem Post attacked Arikat as a supposed propagandist and conceded that he has wide influence on social media.

Arikat’s last action on twitter was a retweet on December 2 of a tweet by Dana Ben-Shimon, the Palestinian affairs correspondent for a Zionist newspaper, Israel Hayom, about what Palestinians were describing on social media as the “Cold Blooded Execution” of an unarmed man, Ammar Mufleh, 23, in Huwara south of Nablus by Israeli forces during an attempted arrest. The killing has rightly drawn international outrage.

Arikat’s suspension is outrageous and unfair. He has retweeted news items thousands of times in recent years without incident. As anyone who has followed his questions at the State Department and his tweets and writings and appearances knows, the 74-year-old is a courtly and soft-spoken reporter (formerly the spokesperson for the United Nations in Iraq) with a point of view reflecting the interests of the Palestinian community, particularly Jerusalem.

At this website, we rely on Arikat to raise important human rights issues with the State Department. Otherwise, State would often face no scrutiny whatsoever for its unbreakable support for Israel. Like when Arikat stood up for Shireen Abu Akleh after her killing last May.

“As bad as Twitter is, I think it’s been positive for the Palestinian people,” Arikat says.

December 2, Arikat’s last day on Twitter, was unremarkable. As is customary, he retweeted a number of tweets he found newsworthy, including comments by Peter Beinart, Noura Erakat, Benzion Sanders of Breaking the Silence, and citations of Arikat’s own article that day (on the pillorying of UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese over her former criticisms of the Israel lobby). He went to bed that night after retweeting the execution tweet by Dana Ben-Shimon.

Arikat also says that his DM’s were hacked in the last month, and some people received DMs purporting to be from him that were not.

As a dean of State Department reporters, who has been in that briefing room for more than 20 years, Arikat tells me that several mainstream reporters have reached out to him in sympathy, but none has actually done anything to publicize the outrage. Hey folks– let’s put our shoulders to the wheel, this is a no-brainer.

P.S. Arikat’s suspension came up at a State briefing on Dec. 16. Spokesperson Vedant Patel was critical in a nuanced manner of the tech journalists’ suspensions by Twitter. “It is certainly difficult to square how these removals are consistent with promoting free exchange. But again, social media companies make their own independent decisions on content moderation, and I’m just not going to speak to those actions.”

Arikat interjected, “By the way, they suspended me without explanation.”

Patel repeated the boilerplate: “Our support for free speech and freedom of the press is well documented.”

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Philip Weiss.

A European Union official on Friday denounced Elon Musk for suspending several journalists from Twitter and warned the social media site's billionaire owner, a self-described champion of free speech, that his attack on press freedom is likely to result in sanctions.

Taking to the platform, E.U. Commissioner for Values and Transparency Věra Jourová wrote: "News about [the] arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying. E.U.'s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our Media Freedom Act. Elon Musk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon."

In an attempt to justify his move, Musk claimed that the suspended journalists shared real-time details about his location. The Twitter CEO's allegation stems from the journalists' reporting on a recently suspended account that used publicly available data to track the movements of his private jet.

However, in the wake of the suspensions, which were imposed without notice or immediate explanation, The Washington Post reported that "none of the tweets from suspended reporters" that it reviewed "revealed the location of Musk or his family."

Musk later argued that merely including a link to the flight-tracking account in the course of reporting amounts to a violation of Twitter's newly amended policy against sharing a person's "live location information."

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a watchdog group that defends press freedom worldwide, said in a statement that "if confirmed as retaliation for their work," Musk's recent Twitter suspensions "would be a serious violation of journalists' right to report the news without fear of reprisal."

This is not the first time that E.U. officials have reminded Musk of the need to ensure that his Twitter operation adheres to the bloc's rules.

Less than 24 hours after Musk purchased Twitter in a $44 billion deal, E.U. internal market commissioner Thierry Breton gave Musk what he called a "reality check."

Breton told Musk that he must comply with the recently passed Digital Services Act, which aims to halt the online spread of hate speech and other illicit content, or risk substantial fines or a continent-wide ban.

"Elon, there are rules," said Breton. "You are welcome but these are our rules. It's not your rules which will apply here."

A recent analysis revealed that Twitter has seen an unprecedented surge in hate speech since Musk took over.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Kenny Stancil.

“Burkina Faso authorities should reverse their suspension of RFI programming and ensure that journalists can work without fear of being sanctioned over their work, including coverage of security issues,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “It is alarming and unfortunate that Burkina Faso has joined Mali in its disregard for freedom of the press and access to information by denying RFI permission to broadcast.”

On December 3, the Burkina Faso Government Information Service issued a statement accusing RFI of having relayed an “intimidation message” attributed to a “terrorist leader” earlier that day, and saying the outlet would therefore be suspended.

The statement did not mention which specific report from RFI’s December 3 broadcast had prompted the suspension, but additionally accused RFI of broadcasting “misleading information” about the country’s interim President Ibrahim Traoré on December 2. In its own statement, RFI called the accusations about its work “totally unfounded.”

Idrissa Birba, president of Nouveaux Droit de l’Homme (NDH-Burkina) human rights group told CPJ by phone Monday that RFI broadcasts were no longer available on short or long wave radio in the country, but could still be accessed online.

In 2019, Burkina Faso amended its penal code to require government “authorization” to publish information from the scene of a terrorist attack, as CPJ reported at the time. In March, Malian authorities similarly suspended RFI and France 24, another subsidiary of the French government-owned France Médias Monde.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week.

The Colorado courts have suspended a well-known custody evaluator and launched a review of the entire state-approved roster, following a ProPublica investigation that found some evaluators had continued to work after being disciplined by state regulators and accused of domestic violence.

Jaime Watman, of the State Court Administrator’s Office, confirmed the audit of all custody evaluators and said that Mark Kilmer, who has served for decades as an evaluator in Colorado family courts, has been suspended while his “continued suitability” is reviewed. Kilmer was arrested and charged with assault in 2006 after his then-wife said he pushed her to the bathroom floor, according to police reports.

Kilmer pleaded guilty to harassment in 2007; the charge was dismissed by the court after Kilmer successfully completed domestic violence counseling and 24 months of probation.

In an interview with ProPublica, Kilmer denied the allegations and said his guilty plea was a result of poor legal representation.

Watman noted that because judges appoint evaluators to the cases they preside over, her office “has no authority to terminate an appointment” that is currently underway. Any action on “current appointments,” she said, will be determined by “the judicial officer presiding over the case.”

Kilmer, who was suspended last week, did not respond to a request for comment on the suspension.

In an interview with ProPublica, Kilmer said he does not believe 90% of the abuse allegations he hears during the course of his work.

ProPublica found that Kilmer is one of four parental responsibility evaluators, or PREs, on the state roster who have been charged with harassment or domestic violence. In one case, the charges were dismissed. In the two others, it is unclear how the charges were resolved.

ProPublica also found that 1 in 5 PREs, including Kilmer, has been publicly sanctioned by the Colorado State Board of Psychologist Examiners, six times the rate of discipline for all psychologists with active licenses in the state. Evaluators were sanctioned for misrepresenting their credentials, failing to keep client’s information confidential and, in one case detailed by the Gazette, of Colorado Springs, failing to disclose a conflict of interest that is alleged to have contributed to the death of a 10-year-old, according to a complaint filed by the child’s mother with the state board. (In his response to the complaint, the PRE said he never perceived threats to the child’s safety.)

None of the sanctioned or arrested PREs lost their licenses or had them suspended.

ProPublica spoke to 45 Colorado parents who were involved in custody disputes with allegations of child and domestic abuse. In cases evaluated by a PRE with a criminal or disciplinary record, the parents said they only learned about their evaluator’s background after the court had appointed them.

Multiple parents who alleged they had experienced abuse in their relationships said evaluators downplayed or omitted the abuse from their reports to the court.

Judges are not obligated to follow evaluators’ recommendations, but PREs acknowledge their opinions are very influential. “At this point in my career, sometimes the judge just cuts and pastes all my recommendations and puts it into the court order,” Kilmer told ProPublica.

The State Court Administrator’s Office, which is responsible for vetting PREs and other court-appointed custody evaluators, said a criminal misdemeanor conviction older than 15 years does not disqualify a custody evaluator from family court appointments. The office also said that discipline by the State Board of Psychologist Examiners does not disqualify an evaluator unless it currently affects their license.

A Colorado law that took effect in January placed court evaluators under the supervision of the State Court Administrator’s Office. Before then, evaluators were not formally vetted by the court and operated with little to no supervision. Watman said the court does not have authority “to consider complaints arising in cases filed prior to” Jan. 1.

The new law also requires court evaluators to receive additional training on how to identify domestic violence and child abuse and on how abuse should be weighed in custody recommendations.

Rep. Meg Froelich, the bill’s sponsor, told ProPublica she will push for additional family court reforms in the next legislative session, including requiring additional education for family court judges.

Froelich said she will model legislation after a Pennsylvania measure, known as Kayden’s Law, that mandates judges and court personnel receive training about child abuse and domestic violence and adds to the evidence judges must consider in custody decisions.

In March, President Joe Biden signed a law that adds language from Kayden’s Law to the reauthorized federal Violence Against Women Act, allocating additional federal funds to states that update their child custody laws to better protect at-risk children.

This content originally appeared on Articles and Investigations - ProPublica and was authored by by Hannah Dreyfus.

St Francis Xavier's School said it had suspended the students for three days for "committing disrespectful acts" in not showing up for the nationalistic ritual, which has been mandated in government-funded schools in Hong Kong since Jan. 1, 2022.

The ceremonies are aimed at promoting national education and "affection for the Chinese people," according to officials, and come amid a citywide crackdown on any form of public criticism of the government.

All primary and secondary schools must now also display the national flag on every school day, as well as on Jan. 1, the July 1 handover anniversary and on China's Oct. 1 National Day.

Local media reported that some of the students were still eating breakfast in a covered playground when the national anthem began to play.

The government passed a law in June 2020 making it illegal for anyone to disrespect the Chinese national anthem, and legislated in October 2021 to ban disrespect to the national flag or emblems of the People's Republic of China.

However, the Hong Kong education bureau's handbook for schools states that suspension should only be used as a punishment for students who repeatedly break the rules despite warnings.

"Suspension is not an appropriate way to deal with students who break the rules," a copy of the handbook published on the bureau's official website states.

It says schools should only suspend students if they fail to improve their behavior after "repeated admonitions and notification of the student's parents or guardians."

'Drastic' move

Mervyn Cheung, the chairman of the Hong Kong Education Policy Concern Organization, told government broadcaster RTHK that the punishment imposed by St Francis Xavier's School was "drastic," and said suspending pupils should be a last resort.

"I think the EDB (Education Bureau) should consider revising the circular that it issued last year and be more specific with the penalties for non-compliance," he told the station.

He said that the severity of any punishment could be based on factors such as whether the pupils were being negligent or whether their actions were deliberate.

The Education Bureau said on Monday that there are clear rules governing etiquette during the national anthem and flag-raising ceremony, and that it had requested a detailed report from the school, RTHK said.

Some of the students gave interviews to local media criticizing the suspension, especially in the wake of recent school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A parent of a secondary school student who gave only the surname Chiu said the punishment was too harsh.

"A lot of people are demonstrating their loyalty these days, letting those in power know that they are abiding strictly by the law, and will discipline their students," Chiu told RFA.

"There is a real issue with this in Hong Kong," she said. "It's not healthy when some people distort the law and create a situation that could put everyone at risk."

A freelance illustrator and former secondary school teacher who goes by the nickname Vawongsir said suspension is generally reserved for serious mistakes.

'White terror'

He said students who risk violating the draconian national security law, which was imposed on Hong Kong by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020, should be taught the right way to behave, rather than being instantly punished.

"There has been less and less freedom in schools since the national security law took effect," vawongsir said. "A lot of schools are already censoring themselves, punishing their students even if the government doesn't pursue them for it."

"It's a kind of white terror, and it's very unhealthy, and yet it's becoming the norm," he said. "I think a lot of schools are now going to copy [St Francis Xavier's], which leads to an even greater sense of fear in schools."

Social media comments in Hong Kong hit out at the punishment, saying the Hong Kong school was holding its pupils to higher standards than that achieved by most people in mainland China during the Oct. 1 National Day celebrations.

But on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, comments were different, largely supporting a heavy hand to exert greater control on Hong Kong in the wake of the 2019 protests.

Current affairs commentator Sang Pu said the incident was all about demonstrating loyalty and political correctness, and noted that some Hong Kong students had come out in support of the school's action.

"Some students actually supported this, saying the three-day suspension was absolutely the right thing to do, and what's wrong with being patriotic," Sang said. "The school's handling of this is similar to inciting students to engage in political struggle with each other [similar to the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976 in mainland China]."

"It's a hateful way to behave, and it shows how sad things have gotten in Hong Kong today," he said.

He said the students couldn't have been accused of failing to stand for the flag, because they weren't even present at the ceremony.

According to recent laws governing China's national emblems and anthem, the national flag must be displayed in a position of prominence where it appears alongside the bauhinia flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

"The national flag, when raised and carried in a procession with the regional flag, shall be in front of the regional flag," the guidelines state, while organizers must take care to retrieve flags used in ceremonies, and return any damaged flags or emblems to the government.

"They must not be displayed upside down, and must not be displayed or used in any way that undermines their dignity," the guidelines state.

Recent legislation has criminalized any burning, soiling or trampling of the Chinese flag in Hong Kong, as well as the posting or publication of images of such actions.

The directive comes amid a city-wide crackdown on public criticism of the Hong Kong government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that has seen dozens of pro-democracy politicians and activists arrested for "subversion" after taking part in a democratic primary that was deemed a bid to undermine the government by voting against it in the Legislative Council (LegCo).

Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin and Cantonese.

Amazon on Tuesday suspended at least 50 workers who refused to return to the shop floor for a few hours on Monday night due to health and safety concerns following a fire at the JFK8 fulfillment center in New York City, the company's only unionized warehouse in the United States.

"We will not tolerate any unsafe workplace and we will not tolerate intimidation."

Roughly 100 night shift workers at the Staten Island facility participated in a work stoppage "shortly after a fire broke out in a trash compactor machine used on cardboard," The Washington Post reported, citing officials from the Amazon Labor Union (ALU). "Labor leaders said the warehouse smelled of smoke and that they couldn't breathe. One worker went to the hospital, they said."

Late Monday night, ALU president Christian Smalls tweeted: "I've been out here in the rain talking to upset workers. Instead of being sent home, Amazon management is threatening time deductions and written warnings for not returning back to the floor. The dock smells like burnt chemicals [but] instead of shutting down they hire a cleanup crew."

Smalls recently shared footage of the fire and ensuing protests on social media. "Instead of addressing concerns of health and safety, putting workers on paid suspension was [Amazon's] response," he wrote. "Shame on them!"

Journalists Steven Greenhouse and Jordan Chariton respectively characterized Amazon's response as "punitive" and "unreal."

ALU lawyer Seth Goldstein called the punishment of Staten Island employees "a violation of workers' rights to join in a collective action about the terms and conditions of their employment."

"The workers didn't feel safe going back to work," said Goldstein. "They were engaging in rights that have been protected for 85 years under the National Labor Relations Act."

As the Post—which is owned by Amazon's mega-billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos—reported, "The mass suspension took place less than 10 days before warehouse workers at a separate Amazon warehouse near Albany, New York, are slated to vote to become the second Amazon workforce to join Amazon Labor Union."

ALU scored a historic victory for the labor movement in April when workers at JFK8 voted to form the nation's first union at Amazon, the second-largest employer in the country. Nonetheless, the e-commerce giant, which spent big on union-busting consultants and pulled out all the stops in an unsuccessful bid to crush the organizing drive, has yet to recognize the independent union.

"Amazon Labor Union organizers say Amazon's crackdown in Staten Island was intended to have a broad chilling effect on their organizing campaigns, including the upcoming election," the Post reported. "Union organizers said that 10 union leaders who led the action were suspended on Tuesday, as well as 40 warehouse workers who refused to return to their shifts."

Amazon spokesperson Paul Flaningan told the newspaper that "all employees were safely evacuated from the area of the warehouse where the fire had broken out, and day shift workers were sent home with pay. He added that once the fire department had certified that the building was safe, the company asked night shift workers to report to their scheduled shifts."

"While the vast majority of employees reported to their workstations, a small group refused to return to work and remained in the building without permission," said Flaningan.

ALU, however, disputes the corporation's account and describes the suspensions as "clear retaliation against workers who refused to work in [unsafe] conditions."

"Amazon associates at JFK8 had our lives placed at risk yesterday, and this isn't the first time," ALU said Tuesday in a statement. "Yesterday's safety and health risk, a fire, is but one example of why we voted to form a union, so we can have a real voice on crucial issues which impact all associates every day."

"Our unionization effort has its origins in a health and safety crisis, the Covid pandemic, and Jeff Bezos' and Amazon's complete disregard for our safety and our families' safety," the union continued.

Before he was elected president of ALU, Smalls was fired from JFK8 in March 2020 after organizing a walkout to protest Amazon's refusal to adequately protect workers from the coronavirus.

The Staten Island facility has earned a reputation for egregious violations of workers' rights since it opened in September 2018. Data published earlier this year, for instance, shows that the fulfillment center's already above-average injury rate increased by 15% from 2020 to 2021.

"It is well-documented that Amazon warehouses have major safety and health issues and their treatment of every one of us yesterday underscores why we need Amazon management to respect our choice to unionize, to follow the law, and to stop their legal stalling and start negotiating with us over key issues, including our own safety and health," ALU said Tuesday.

"We won our unionization election fair and square," said ALU, pointing to the National Labor Relations Board's recently announced plan to throw out Amazon's objections to the union's victory, which paves the way for contract negotiations.

"Amazon workers made a collective decision last night to demand that workers get sent home with pay while the smoke cleared," the union continued. "We demanded to see the fire department report. We demanded real information about what was happening."

"When workers demanded the right to speak together as a union, Amazon then increased their intimidation by informing us that key worker leaders have now been suspended for doing exactly what workers voted for, coming together to make a plan that we as frontline workers felt safe on the job," the union added. "We will not tolerate any unsafe workplace and we will not tolerate intimidation."

ALU reportedly plans to file an unfair labor practice complaint in response to the suspensions.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Kenny Stancil.

The list of suspended news outlets that PCIN shared with CPJ includes TV stations Canal San José, NGTV, and Canal RB3, as well as radio broadcasters Radio Darío, Radio Sky, Radio La Guarachera, Radio Vos, Radio San Carlos, Radio Hermanos, Radio Nuestra Señora de Lourdes, Radio Nuestra Señora de Fátima, Radio Allens, Radio Monte Carmelo, Radio San José, Radio Stereo Santa Lucía, Radio Stereo Sol, and Radio Stereo Fe. Other suspended news outlets asked not to be publicly named, according to Cristopher Mendoza, a representative of PCIN, who spoke with CPJ via phone.

At least 12 of the suspended radio stations were owned and managed by the Catholic church in the northern region of the country, Mendoza said.

On August 1, the regulator, the Instituto Nicaragüense de Telecomunicaciones y Correos (Telcor) suspended seven radio stations under the direction of Bishop Rolando Álvarez, the head of the Matagalpa diocese, according to Mendoza and a report by Reuters.

Álvarez was placed under house arrest after a raid on his home on August 19, according to CNN and a statement from the Nicaraguan police, which Nicaraguan news website Confidencial published on its site and posted on Twitter. The bishop is facing a criminal investigation for “destabilizing and provocative activities,” according to the police statement.

In announcing the closure of the seven radio stations on August 2, Telcor said the stations “did not meet the technical requirements to be on the air,” but it did not specify the requirements, according to Reuters.

In addition to providing religious programming, these radio stations served rural communities with local and national news, according to Mendoza. “For these communities, this was the only contact they had with what was happening at a national level,” he said.

On August 12, Telcor ordered the suspension of operations of Radio Darío, an independent news and opinion radio station in the northwest city of León, according to station owner Anibal Toruño, who spoke with CPJ over the phone, and a public statement by Telcor that Toruño shared on his Twitter account.

Toruño told CPJ that Telcor argued that official records contained incorrect information about the radio station, including the station’s address, the make and model of the transmitter, and the radio frequency. Toruño said that the address and transmitter had changed after the radio station’s headquarters were burned down in 2018, and staff had to move to another building and buy new equipment, as CPJ has documented.

“We notified the authorities about all of this. This is simply an excuse to silence us,” Toruño told CPJ.

On August 15, two other stations owned by Toruño, Radio Sky and La Guarachera, which broadcast music, also had their licenses revoked, according to news reports and Toruño.

CPJ sent an email to Telcor requesting comment, but did not receive any response.

CPJ has documented the Nicaraguan government’s ongoing crackdown against the press since a wave of protests in spring 2018, including imprisonments, criminal proceedings, raids on news outlets, criminal defamation charges, and physical attacks. At least one journalist was killed while covering protests in April 2018.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Aotearoa New Zealand’s ruling Labour’s caucus has unanimously decided to suspend Hamilton West MP Dr Gaurav Sharma effective immediately in the wake of allegations of bullying of and by MPs.

This morning, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s office confirmed the meeting to discuss allegations of bullying raised by Hamilton West MP Gaurav Sharma would take place this afternoon.

The meeting addressed Dr Sharma’s status within the party after he took his concerns to the media rather than usual party processes for dealing with disputes.

• READ MORE: Opinion: Labour MP Dr Gaurav Sharma blows whistle on Parliament bullying, takes aim at officials, party whips
• Other reports on diversity in the NZ Parliament

Dr Sharma has complained, however, that using those mechanisms have got him nowhere, saying he had tried dealing with the concerns through the party whip’s office and Parliamentary Service for the past year and a half.

He was not at the caucus meeting this afternoon.

“I note that he did find the time to talk to media,” Ardern said.

“Caucus has determined suspension is the most appropriate response to the repeated breaches of trust from Gaurav over recent days.

No longer in caucus
“This means Gaurav will continue as the MP for Hamilton West and be expected to be present at Parliament. However, he will no longer participate in any caucus events or activities unless caucus’ permission is granted.”

Dr Sharma was emailed, phoned, and text messaged to try to get him to attend the meeting today, she said.

Watch the conference 

Labour’s unanimous decision to suspend MP Dr Sharma. Video: RNZ News

Ardern said she called and tried to message him after the meeting this afternoon, as have others, and she hoped this was not the first he had heard of his suspension.

“We have made efforts to convey this information to him directly.”

The whips directly engaged with Dr Sharma on whether he would attend, she said.

“Originally a range of options were sent and they didn’t receive a response. They then proposed a time and they were told at that time that no, at that time Gaurav had a specific event.

“They then advised that we would set a meeting time at a time that suited Gaurav today, he advised that nearer to 3[pm] would suit so whips suggested 2.30, we then at that point didn’t receive any further engagement.”

All of Labour’s MPs were invited to attend today, she said.

Labour’s caucus has unanimously decided to suspend MP Gaurav Sharma effective immediately https://t.co/qogiWItoxG

— RNZ News (@rnz_news) August 16, 2022

Decision unanimous
She said the decision was unanimous, and the team was clear that to function as a political party in a place where open debate and dialogue was key, members needed to be able to trust their colleagues.

“You need to feel you can speak openly and freely. That sense of trust has been broken by repeated breaches of our caucus rules over the last five days and that made the decision very clear,” she said.

Ardern and party leadership have continued to refer to the allegations — which in particular accuse former whip Kieran McAnulty of bullying and gaslighting — as an employment concern between Dr Sharma and the staff in his office.

RNZ has sought comment from McAnulty repeatedly but he has not responded.

Ardern said, based on the documents she has reviewed, the Labour whip’s office and Parliamentary Service began working with Dr Sharma to address concerns raised about his staff management. He was then asked to work with a mentor, which he objected to.

“Finally agreement was reached at the end of last year. Further issues were later raised by additional staff members including those in his direct employment, This resulted in another pause on hirinig and again coaching, mentoring and temporary staff in the meantime.

“Gaurav again objected to this intervention and the need for his future hiring of staff or undertakings on his part. A protracted process ensued.”

No other concerns
Ardern said she still had heard no concerns raised by any other MPs about McAnulty.

She said she did not recall Dr Sharma ever raising his concerns with her and she had gone through records of events and text messages after hearing about his concerns last week.

“I have not gone through everything but from what I can see he is a member who I’ve had less engagement with than most, that is fair to say … he’s never raised the issue directly with me, and that is an expectation I would have because it’s set out in our rules.

“First if there’s an issue you go to the whips. If you’re unable to get resolution you go to either the Labour leader or to someone the Labour leader nominates. And if it’s still unresolved you go to caucus. That didn’t happen.

“He did raise them with my chief-of-staff at the end of last year. He told me about that and he also told me the resolution that was reached between them and I’ve seen the messages that demonstrate that. Neither of us heard anything after that until the events that led to this.”

After he published his column in The New Zealand Herald last Thursday, she called him and he did not pick up, she said. She then sent a text to ask about his welfare, rather than relitigating issues.

“I received one message in response, I won’t go into the details on that but it was essentially setting out his perspective on these issues.”

Bullying not widespread problem
She has consistently refused suggestions that bullying is a widespread problem within the party.

One of his allegations was found to have no basis, she said, but he has continued to make them.

“I am equally concerned that staff members have been implicated by the level of detail that’s been shared … we considered whether or not for transparency we should release some of the communications to demonstrate our perspective on what has occurred here but again that runs the risk of exposing staff.”

She said Dr Sharma’s status would be reviewed in December, to allow a chance for a return to caucus if trust with him was able to be restored.

“But in making the decision to suspend, caucus were clear that the team retains the right to revisit the decision at any time if the rules continue to be broken. To be clear, the caucus’ decision was squarely focused on actions over the last few days. What gave rise to those actions also deserves some reflection.”

Ardern said there were grounds for expulsion under the caucus rules, but the team wanted to send a message that while their trust had been lost and they considered the situation very egregious, they were a team that wanted to give second chances.

“If he does that there’s a pathway back, if he doesn’t then he will be expelled.”

She said the exact date in December for revisiting the decision had not been decided upon.

Options at that time could include continued suspension, a return to caucus, or expulsion. At this point, the possibility of sending a letter to the Speaker to request his removal from Parliament under the waka jumping law has not been discussed.

Informal caucus meeting last night
As the meeting started this afternoon, Dr Sharma contacted RNZ claiming an earlier meeting involving some Labour MPs was held last night, without his knowledge.

Ardern said the outcome today was not predetermined at a meeting last night. She said one of the issues of misconduct was that Sharma had been sharing the contents of meetings publicly, which meant people felt they were unable to raise questions or discuss issues.

The reason Sharma was not informed of the meeting last night was “because people did not feel they could have an open conversation with him”.

Sharma claimed he had an image sent to him, a screenshot of the meeting.

“You’d note that probably if someone were deliberately sharing that message it would be more likely a gallery view,” Ardern said.

“I also knew who took that screenshot, it was intended they were trying to capture something else on their phone, the meeting was occurring in the corner at the same time, they accidentally sent it to someone they shouldn’t.

“What they sent was a screenshot of the conversation trying to set a caucus meeting time, it just so happened that they were multitasking … they’re somewhat embarrassed over the situation.”

The meeting last night was not a formal caucus meeting, she said, and she was also clear there would not be a predetermined outcome.

“Natural justice is very important to our team.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came under fire Thursday for suspending Andrew Warren over the state attorney's pledges not to prosecute people for violating restrictions on abortion or gender-affirming care.

Citing the state constitution, DeSantis dismissed Warren for alleged "neglect of duty." The governor's suspension order references the ousted prosecutor's support for a pair of joint statements from the national network Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP).

In addition to announcing Warren's suspension, DeSantis appointed Susan Lopez as new the chief prosecutor for the 13th Judicial Circuit that covers Hillsborough County.

DeSantis—who has recently faced criticism for his attacks on abortion, LGBTQ+, protest, and voting rights—is up for reelection this year and widely expected to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, which Warren noted in his statement blasting the suspension.

"Today's political stunt is an illegal overreach that continues a dangerous pattern by Ron DeSantis of using his office to further his own political ambition," said Warren. "It spits in the face of the voters of Hillsborough County who have twice elected me to serve them, not Ron DeSantis."

County residents "have the right to elect their own leaders—not have them dictated by an aspiring presidential candidate who has shown time and again he feels accountable to no one," Warren added. "Just because the governor violates your rights, it doesn't mean they don't exist."

FJP executive director Miriam Krinsky called Warren's suspension "an unprecedented and dangerous intrusion on the separation of powers and the will of the voters," adding that "the independence of the prosecutor—and the autonomy to decide whom and what to charge with inherently limited resources—has been a hallmark of the American criminal legal system."

While condemning DeSantis for his "outrageous overreach" and "blatant power grab," Krinsky also made clear that the network stands with Warren, who she said "was elected and reelected because of his commitment to smart justice and public safety."

Reporter Paul Blest also highlighted voter support for Warren as well as the lack of local support for DeSantis, who narrowly won the governorship in 2018 but lost Hillsborough County—which includes Tampa—by nine points.

Florida-based writer and organizer Thomas Kennedy said that "Ron DeSantis continues his authoritarian crusade against anyone who opposes his assault on our rights by suspending Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren, who recently said he would not prosecute people for not complying with Florida's recently enacted abortion ban."

In a move that critics warned would end Florida's status as "an oasis of reproductive care in the South," DeSantis signed the state's 15-week abortion ban in April, about two months before the U.S. Supreme Court ended the right to abortion on a national level.

DeSantis' suspension order notes that Warren is the only state attorney in Florida who signed on to FJP's statement that followed the high court's decision, which said in part that enforcing abortion bans "will erode trust in the legal system, hinder our ability to hold perpetrators accountable, take resources away from the enforcement of serious crime, and inevitably lead to the retraumatization and criminalization of victims of sexual violence."

The governor's order also attacks Warren for backing FJP's June statement which declares, "Bills that criminalize safe and crucial medical treatments or the mere public existence of trans people do not promote public safety, community trust, or fiscal responsibility."

Although, as DeSantis' order highlights, the Florida Legislature has not passed laws prohibiting gender-affirming care or trans people from using facilities such as bathrooms that align with their identity, the state may soon ban certain healthcare for LGBTQ+ youth.

The Florida Board of Medicine is set to meet Friday to review a proposal by the state Department of Health—which is under Desantis' control—to deny gender-affirming care to trans state residents under the age of 18.

Along with denouncing "DeSantis' assault on transgender Floridians, Human Rights Campaign legal director Sarah Warbelow stressed Thursday that "science, medicine, and evidence-based approaches have demonstrated time and time again that transition-related care is medically necessary and lifesaving care, and if this proposal is adopted, it will go against the recommendation of every major medical association."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Jessica Corbett.

On July 1, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) ordered DarMpya to suspend publication immediately, according to news reports and a copy of TCRA’s July 1 letter.

The letter cited the TCRA’s June 28 inspection of the outlet’s office in the commercial capital of Dar es Salaam, where authorities found that the outlet’s license had expired in 2021, and it was therefore publishing in breach of the Electronic and Postal Communications (Online Content) Regulations.

A person familiar with the matter, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity citing safety concerns, said that DarMpya had applied for its license renewal shortly before the suspension. On July 6, DarMpya tweeted that it had ceased publication until it could renew its license.

The letter said the inspection followed complaints about DarMpya’s coverage of a protest, but did not specify the reporting in question. In a since-deleted tweet seen by CPJ, DarMpya alleged that a June 17 protest against alleged Kenyan interference in the Tanzanian government’s plan to evict members of the Maasai community from lands in northern Tanzania was staged. The person who spoke to CPJ said that the inspection was in response to that tweet.

Tanzanian Information Minister Nape Nnauye told CPJ via messaging app that DarMpya had been under scrutiny for allegedly unbalanced content, but said the outlet’s suspension had nothing to do with its journalism and was solely due to its failure to comply with licensing requirements.

“Tanzanian authorities are using a repressive set of regulations to control who may and may not express themselves online. The suspension of the DarMpya news outlet shows how such regulations can become tools of censorship,” said CPJ Sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities should allow DarMpya to resume operations without interference, cease using harsh regulations to police speech on the internet, and urgently reform the country’s laws to nurture, rather than limit, press freedom.”

DarMpya publishes national news and commentary on its website, on YouTube as DarMpya TV, where it has about 809,000 followers, and on Twitter as DarMpya Blog, where it has over 309,000 followers. It has not published news content on those channels since July 2.

Tanzania’s online content regulations were first issued in 2018, and at the time CPJ called on authorities to scrap the regulations, as they threatened the “diversity and robustness of online media.”

A new version of the regulations was issued in 2020, and those rules were amended earlier this year, narrowing the scope of the licensing requirements, but news blogs, online television broadcasters, and online radio stations must still register with the TCRA and comply with content restrictions.

Nnauye told CPJ that the Tanzanian government was engaging with local journalists about reforming media laws, but while the regulations remain on the books, the government will enforce them.

“We can’t close our eyes and say the law isn’t there,” he said. “As long as the law is there, it is not suspended, it is not changed. I am sworn to stand and make sure these laws are followed. If it is changed, then we will follow the new one.”

Under President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who took office last year, Tanzania has committed to reforming its  media laws, as CPJ has documented. However, at least two other publications—Raia Mwema and Uhuru—were suspended last year, as CPJ has documented.

In a phone call today, a representative of the TCRA said they would follow-up on emailed queries CPJ had sent about DarMpya’s case. CPJ had not received a response at the time of publication.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

John Achiek De’Mabior, Radio Jonglei’s executive director, told CPJ that on May 19 security forces and other authorities delivered the suspension notice, ordered the staff to leave their offices, and locked the doors. The notice did not specify the length of the suspension. The station reopened on May 24, according to De’Mabior and a copy of Manyuon’s order to lift the suspension, which CPJ reviewed.

The suspension was related to coverage of government officials’ statements on May 16 marking SPLA Day, according to De’Mabior and Radio Jonglei CEO Tijwog Agwet, who also spoke with CPJ, as well as media reports. The day commemorates the 1983 founding of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which fought for southern autonomy from Sudan.

In an interview with CPJ, Manyuon defended the decision to suspend the station completely and accused Radio Jonglei of violating professionalism and journalistic ethics. Radio Jonglei had given preferential coverage to Jonglei State’s deputy governor over the governor, he said, adding that this amounted to incitement because of the political and ethnic divisions in the state government and South Sudanese society. The governor and deputy governor come from different ethnic groups, Manyuon said.

Manyuon said he ordered the suspension after he had summoned Radio Jonglei staff, who rebuffed his concerns about the coverage and asserted their right to editorial independence.

Agwet told CPJ that he was in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, when he learned of the suspension. He then traveled to Bor town, apologized for the coverage, and opened an internal investigation into the actions of the station’s staff.

“They were planning on…making a government committee to investigate them [the Radio Jonglei staff]. I said I will do my administrative business,” Agwet told CPJ. “I’m investigating my people.”

In his May 19 letter to Manyuon, a copy of which CPJ reviewed, Agwet wrote that  “mistakes” were made in Radio Jonglei’s May 16 coverage by “omitting” the governor’s speech.

Agwet told CPJ that, given the sensitivities surrounding social and political divisions in South Sudan, Radio Jonglei’s coverage of SPLA Day did not adequately include the governor’s voice, but said the suspension was not appropriate.

“There are people who need to have access to information…they are not part of this [dispute],” Agwet told CPJ. “There are other important things that are being aired by the radio. So totally I disagree with the government for suspending and closing down the radio.”

On May 20, Elijah Alier Kuai, managing director of South Sudan’s Media Authority, the country’s media regulator, wrote to Manyuon to “advise” him to immediately lift the suspension of Radio Jonglei and “desist from interfering with the independent editorial policies of media houses.” The letter, which CPJ reviewed and was covered by local media, said any media violation complaints “must be filed with the Media Authority,” citing the 2013 Media Authority Act establishing the regulator.

Manyuon told CPJ that “the Media Authority has the role to advise, but does not have the role to order…We don’t need to take that [the authority’s letter] into account, we did not respond to them.” The suspension was lifted due to Radio Jonglei’s internal investigation and the state government’s desire “for the public to have freedom of press,” Manyuon said, adding that it wasn’t related to “intimidation from the Media Authority.”

Previously, between late August and late September 2021, Radio Jonglei was shut down over coverage of anti-government protests, according to media reports and Agwet.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

Martin Andanar, spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte, told reporters on Tuesday in Manila that the Security, Justice and Peace Coordinating Cluster (SJPCC), or the government's security advisors, decided to suspend all exploration activities within the disputed areas in West Philippine Sea.

West Philippine Sea is the name used by the Filipinos for the part of the South China Sea over which Manila claims sovereignty.

Local companies in the Philippines have been test drilling two sites at Reed Bank, also known as Recto Bank, off Palawan province for survey purposes, but the Department of Energy (DOE) has now ordered them to stop.

Andanar said that the DOE has requested the government to reconsider the suspension because “under international law, a geophysical survey is perfectly legitimate activity in any disputed area.”

In 2018, Manila and Beijing signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for joint oil and gas development in contested areas and those two sites were identified by the DOE as possible sites for joint exploration with China.

Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines' Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said Beijing has been pressuring Manila to accept its exploration terms or to stop drilling.

“Through diplomacy and the actions of the China Coast Guard, Beijing has been trying to coerce Manila to stop conducting seabed exploration and research activities in the West Philippine Sea until the latter submits to China’s conditions for joint development,” Batongbacal said.

The Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam all hold claims in the South China Sea but China’s claim is the most expansive, occupying nearly 90 percent of the sea.

In 2016, the Philippines brought a case against China to an international tribunal and won but Beijing refused to accept the ruling.

In 2014, under Duterte’s predecessor President Benigno Aquino, the Philippines imposed a ban on oil and gas exploration in the disputed areas of the South China Sea in protest against China’s aggression.

Duterte lifted the moratorium in 2020, paving the way for joint development with China, hoping to attract new investment from the biggest player in the region.

There were also fears that unilateral exploration activities might hurt the Sino-Philippines relationship.

Yet until now, the MOU the two countries signed in 2018 has not resulted in any actual project.

All efforts made to date by other countries in prospecting for oil and gas in the South China Sea have made little progress because of heavy opposition from China, said Fitch Solutions, a global market analysis agency.

“China has formally claimed the rights to explore and exploit hydrocarbon resources in the disputed waters, but has not done so in practice and appears content to prevent others from exploring the area,” said Fitch Solutions.

“There is limited scope for the current deadlock over the South China Sea to ease,” it added.

Tensions have been high between the Philippines and China in the last few months of Duterte’s presidency.

In the latest incident, the Philippines lodged a diplomatic protest against China after a Chinese coastguard ship maneuvered dangerously close to a Filipino vessel in the disputed Scarborough Shoal in March.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By BenarNews Staff.

We speak with Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), about Turkey’s recent decision to suspend the trial of 26 Saudi men accused of killing journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. DAWN sued Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his alleged conspirators in the murder. Whitson says Turkey’s move to turn over the case to prosecutors in Saudi Arabia shows “the Turkish government has decided that good relations — and in particular investment and trade with Saudi Arabia — is more important than pursuing justice for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi on Turkish soil.” We also ask Whitson about news that a fund led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has invested $2 billion in Jared Kushner’s new private equity firm just years after Kushner helped push forward a $110 billion weapons sale to Saudi Arabia while his father-in-law was in office. She says the investment “exposes the corruption and lack of accountability in both the American system and the Saudi system.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

A majority of United Nations member states on Thursday voted to suspend Russia from the U.N. body charged with promoting and protecting human rights around the world in response to the Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine and mounting war crime allegations.

The final vote in the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) on the resolution to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council (HRC) over "gross and systematic violations of human rights" was 93-24, with 58 nations abstaining.

A two-thirds majority of votes—excluding abstentions—was required to suspend Russia, which was in its second year of a three-year term on the 47-member Geneva-based HRC.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of the U.S. based group Human Rights Watch (HRW), tweeted that "because Russia actively pushed governments to vote 'no' rather than abstain, the mere 24 highly abusive governments that wanted to keep Russia on the U.N. Human Rights Council despite its war crimes in Ukraine shows how isolated Russia has become."

HRW's U.N. director, Louis Charbonneau, said in a statement that "the General Assembly has sent a crystal-clear message to Russia's leadership that a government whose military is routinely committing horrific rights violations has no business on the U.N. Human Rights Council."

"Gruesome images from Bucha have shocked people around the world," Charbonneau said. "Victims and their families deserve to see those responsible held to account. Investigators from the U.N. and International Criminal Court should set the wheels of justice in motion by moving swiftly to gather and preserve evidence of war crimes."

Russia responded to the vote by announcing its withdrawal from the HRC. Addressing that move, Ukrainian U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told journalists that "you do not submit your resignation after you are fired."

Reuters noted that "under Thursday's resolution, the General Assembly could have later agreed to end the suspension. But that cannot happen now Russia has quit the council, just as the United States did in 2018 over what it called chronic bias against Israel and a lack of reform."

Gennady Gatilov, Russia's permanent representative to the U.N. office in Geneva, called the resolution "a U.S. attempt to subjugate various spheres of interaction between states in the international arena, including the U.N. human rights mechanisms," and claimed its adoption "discredits the U.N. Human Rights Council, inflicts irreparable damage to its reputation, and undermines its credibility."

Striking a similar tone on Twitter, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia's deputy permanent representative to the U.N., pointed to former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's remarks when the United States withdrew from the HRC under former President Donald Trump in 2018.

Polyanskiy directed his tweets at the ambassadors from the United Kingdom and the United States—which returned to the HRC in October, under President Joe Biden. The U.S. leader on Thursday applauded the UNGA vote as "a meaningful step by the international community further demonstrating how Putin's war has made Russia an international pariah."

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that Thursday was "an important and historic day," and that countries from across the globe "have collectively sent a clear message that Russia will be held accountable."

"Despite Russia's attempt to spread disinformation, we all saw the gruesome images from Bucha, Dymerka, Irpin, and other recently liberated Ukrainian cities," Thomas-Greenfield continued. "Mass graves. Burnt bodies. Executions."

"We have seen credible reports of landmines and booby traps left behind by Putin's forces to injure even more civilians after Russia failed in its objectives and withdrew," she added. "I shudder to think of what we will find in other towns across Ukraine in the weeks ahead."

The HRC showdown came as Amnesty International demanded thorough independent investigations into alleged extrajudicial killings of Ukrainian civilians in the Kyiv area by Russian forces. Agnès Callamard, the group's secretary general, highlighted that "the intentional killing of civilians is a human rights violation and a war crime."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Jessica Corbett.

On April 1, the National Communication Council media regulator announced that Equinoxe TV CEO Séverin Tchounkeu and editor-in-chief and presenter Cédrick Noufele were both suspended from working as journalists for one month, and that the outlet’s “Droit de Réponse” (“Right of Reply”) program was barred from airing during that time, according to press reports and a statement by the NCC.

A person close to Equinoxe TV’s top management, who spoke to CPJ on the condition they not be named out of fear of reprisal, said the outlet planned to challenge the regulator’s decision in court this week.

“Cameroonian authorities should immediately allow Equinoxe TV CEO Séverin Tchounkeu and editor Cédrick Noufele to resume their work, and must stop attempts to censor content about matters of public interest,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “The country’s media regulator should encourage a diversity of views instead of trying to police speech, and should ensure that Equinoxe TV can air its programming freely.”

On February 28, Noufele hosted a panel discussion on “Right of Reply” about a nationwide teachers’ strike, according to the NCC statement, which accused him of failing to properly supervise the discussion that was “likely to lead to the amplification of a potentially explosive social demand.”

Following that show, national Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji compared Equinoxe TV to radio stations that incited turmoil leading up to the Rwandan genocide.

In a letter dated March 18, and subsequently published by local media outlets, Littoral Region Governor Samuel Dieudonné Ivaha Diboua accused Equinoxe TV of “repeated incitement to popular revolt” and said the station had “an outrageously aggressive editorial line for years.” In that letter, Diboua threatened to take legal action against the station for alleged incitement.

On March 21, Tchounkeu appeared on a show on Equinoxe TV, which CPJ reviewed, during which he mocked grammatical errors in Diboua’s letter and suggested that Nji had written it. Also in the broadcast, Noufele denied any wrongdoing in hosting that panel discussion.

In its statement, the NCC cited the February 28 and March 21 programs for allegedly “broadcasting unfounded, insinuating and offensive statements,” and ordered the journalists and “Right of Reply” to be suspended for one month.

CPJ called Nji and contacted him via messaging app, and also called and emailed Diboua’s office for comment, but did not receive any replies. When CPJ called the NCC for comment, President Joseph Chebonkeng Kalabubsu referred CPJ to the regulator’s statement.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Yitong Wu, Chingman and Wang Yun.

We go to El Salvador for an update on how the government under President Nayib Bukele has arrested over 6,000 people since a 30-day state of emergency was imposed following a wave of violence. The state of exception has suspended freedom of assembly and weakened due process rights for those arrested, including an extension of how long people can be held without charge. Nelson Rauda, a journalist at the newspaper El Faro who has been a target of harassment and surveillance by the Salvadoran government, says the impact of the state of exception has a class divide. “If you have resources … you might go about the state of exception as if nothing is happening,” he says. “For the majority of the country which comes from the lower-income population, it’s been difficult. It’s military checkpoints and police checkpoints and stop-and-frisk.”

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

“In their attempt to quash all independent coverage of the war in Ukraine, Russian authorities have closed down or otherwise silenced independent media outlets, and have forced journalists to flee from prosecution. Novaya Gazeta has been one of the last bastions of Russia’s free press,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said. “Russia’s draconian censorship tactics must stop. Now more than ever, it is critical that Russian news outlets be allowed to provide unbiased coverage. Novaya Gazeta must be allowed to operate freely.”

In its March 28 statement, Novaya Gazeta said the state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, had issued a warning over the newspaper’s coverage, and that it would cease publishing in print and online until the end of Russia’s so-called “special operation” in Ukraine.

According to reports by Russian state news agencies, authorities alleged that Novaya Gazeta published material from a group classified by the Russian government as a “foreign agent” without labeling it as such. The regulator previously sent Novaya Gazeta a warning for allegedly failing to mark foreign agent material on March 22, according to those reports.

Under Russia’s foreign agent law, a third warning for such an offense could result in the government closure of the news outlet.

Novaya Gazeta often publishes reporting critical of the Russian government, including the invasion of Ukraine, and recently covered an interview Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave to a group of independent Russian journalists.

Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief and founder of Novaya Gazeta and 2007 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his work amid government repression.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

“In their attempt to quash all independent coverage of the war in Ukraine, Russian authorities have closed down or otherwise silenced independent media outlets, and have forced journalists to flee from prosecution. Novaya Gazeta has been one of the last bastions of Russia’s free press,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said. “Russia’s draconian censorship tactics must stop. Now more than ever, it is critical that Russian news outlets be allowed to provide unbiased coverage. Novaya Gazeta must be allowed to operate freely.”

In its March 28 statement, Novaya Gazeta said the state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, had issued a warning over the newspaper’s coverage, and that it would cease publishing in print and online until the end of Russia’s so-called “special operation” in Ukraine.

According to reports by Russian state news agencies, authorities alleged that Novaya Gazeta published material from a group classified by the Russian government as a “foreign agent” without labeling it as such. The regulator previously sent Novaya Gazeta a warning for allegedly failing to mark foreign agent material on March 22, according to those reports.

Under Russia’s foreign agent law, a third warning for such an offense could result in the government closure of the news outlet.

Novaya Gazeta often publishes reporting critical of the Russian government, including the invasion of Ukraine, and recently covered an interview Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave to a group of independent Russian journalists.

Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief and founder of Novaya Gazeta and 2007 recipient of CPJ’s International Press Freedom Award, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his work amid government repression.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.

On Wednesday, March 16, Mali’s Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization began a procedure to suspend the ability of RFA and France 24 to broadcast content in the country, according to a copy of the suspension order posted on the ministry’s Facebook page and reports by RFI and France 24. Both outlets are subsidiaries of the French government-owned France Médias Monde parent company, which stated it “deplored the decision,” according to those reports.

The suspension order cited the publication of “false allegations” of abuses by the Malian Armed forces (FAMa) made earlier this month by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, Human Rights Watch, and RFI as the reason for the suspensions. The order said the suspensions were justified under Mali’s “laws and regulations” but did not specify which laws were violated and barred all local outlets from distributing content made by RFI and France 24.

“Authorities in Mali should halt their efforts to control journalism in the country and reverse the suspension of RFI and France 24, as well as the ban on all local media distributing those outlets’ content,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator. “These suspensions, which follow the suspension of the media accreditation processes earlier this year, paint a grim picture for press freedom in Mali.”

RFI and France 24 broadcasts have been shut off since 1 p.m. local time on March 17, according to a journalist with knowledge of the situation who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Sambi Touré, the director of the Malian government’s information center, acknowledged CPJ’s requests for comment sent via messaging app, but did not directly answer the questions sent to him about the suspensions. CPJ also called Harouna Mamadou Toureh, Mali’s minister of communication, digital economy, and administration modernization. One of the calls sounded like it connected, but no audible words could be heard, and other calls and questions sent via messaging app and text message went unanswered.

In February, Malian authorities suspended the accreditation processes for journalists and expelled Jeune Afrique reporter Benjamin Roger, a French national, hours after he arrived in the county saying he did not have the required accreditation, as CPJ documented at the time. Accredited journalists already inside Mali could continue working, Harbert Traoré, a technical adviser for the Ministry of Communication, told CPJ at the time.

Since that time, certain journalists’ accreditations have expired and there is currently no avenue to be reaccredited, a journalist with knowledge of the situation told CPJ. In response to CPJ’s request for an update on accreditation processes in Mali, Traoré told CPJ via messaging app that the Ministry of Communication did not make these decisions without elaborating further.

In a video published on March 14, Olivier Dubois, a journalist kidnapped in Mali, said he was abducted by jihadists in April 2021 and thanked his family for messages he heard over the radio, which RFI has been broadcasting. CPJ called for his immediate release.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.